The New Dawn
by XHelenaMCR
Summary: The story of an ordinary goth girl, whos life is changed dramatically when she realises everything is not as it seems and she is not who she thought she was for all these years. Can a creature she thought was myth but is now in love with, save her?


**The New Dawn**

Chapter 1

Helena grabbed her hair towel from the cupboard from which it draped over and quickly wrapped it around her wet hair. After that she grabbed the bigger towel and wrapped it around herself and walked to the bedroom. Soon she was nice and snug in her silky pyjamas in front of the TV with the ice cream that never failed to chase away the blues. _What a prick_, she thought as she scoffed her ice cream, _I hate men! Never again_! The television screen flickered then went blank. The lights all shut off for a second and then slowly flickered back to life. Helena's heart began to race, what was happening? Grabbing the closest object to her she leapt up of the chair, spilling the ice cream all over the floor. A bang from her bedroom made her freeze with fear. Slowly, she made her legs work again, making them move her forward inch by inch towards the bedroom. A cold chill crept over her as she entered the room; she flipped the switch for the lights. The room was empty. Feeling her fear building she grabbed for the bedroom phone and dialled the number for her best friend.

"Hello?" A groggy sounding Neelofar answered after five rings.

"Nee, it's Ella." Helena whispered, afraid to speak aloud in case something happened.

"Its three in the morning! This better be good." Neelofar was angry but the anger was being taken over by her tiredness.

"I think there's someone in my house." She whispered a tear rolling down her cheek. "I'm scared."

"There's no one in your house, Helena. It's your imagination. You've been so messed up since Charlie left you. Trust me. It's your imagination."

"But –" Helena tried to protest.

"There – Is – No – One – In – Your – House!" Neelofar pronounced every word with a touch of annoyance. "Go to bed, Helena. You'll feel better in the morning. Good night" Then she hung up without another word.

She's right, Helena thought, it's just me being silly, it's Charlie's fault. She turned off her light, stripped off throwing her clothes in the corner and crawled into bed. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching her. She felt the bed move, as if someone had sat on it at the end. Quickly looking up she found yet again there was no one there. Settling back down onto the pillow and reassuring herself that there was no one in her room she managed to fall into a nightmare plagued sleep.

_Brr Brr_. The phone vibrated on her bedside table. Helena groaned, her fingers fumbling for the phone. Finally finding it she quickly pressing the button and putting it to her ear.

"Hello?" She asked, a little angry so have been woken.

"Where the hell are you? You were supposed to be here half an hour ago!" The voice whispered obviously not wanting to be heard over the rabble in the background.

"Oh shit!" she cried, throwing herself out of bed, realising just what day it was. She quickly dressed, brushed her teeth, grabbed her bag and ran for the door. Remembering just at the last second to get her key. Panicking she ran back in, grabbed her door keys and bike keys. She grabbed her leather jacket on the way out and locked the door after her. She jumped on her bike, putting on the jacket and putting her backpack on her back. She started the engine and went racing out of the driveway.

"Nice of you to join us, Helena." Miss turner said as she entered the room. Her usual sarcasm never failed to lighten the mood.

"Sorry miss, I slept in an – "

"Never mind just get on with some work." Miss turner replied, waving off Helena's apology and going over to help another student. Charlie stood at the back of the class, smirking at her. Deciding she wasn't going to get involved in his childish games that usually ended up with her getting hurt she ignored him and went into the practice room to collect her keyboard from its shelf. It wasn't there. Helena groaned. She left the practice room, instantly noticing that Charlie had her keyboard.

Miss turner noticed where her gaze was and instantly came in with the story behind it.

"I said he could use it because we didn't think you were here, so if you just sit down somewhere and pass the time, your composition is nearly finished anyway." Miss turner walked away when she'd finished, not wanting to argue the fact. So Helena sat down and went to work doodling.

Charlie grabbed her shoulders, making her almost jump out of her seat. "You all right?" he asked sounding very amused.

_Great, he's going to make me even more upset_, Helena thought with a twinge of regret for not skipping the class altogether. She didn't respond.

"Still in a big bitch-fit with me I guess?" He said, sighing at the end. _Damn right_, Helena thought, willing him to hear it, obviously he didn't. He just sat and smirked at her, trying to make her break but she didn't, she held strong, it was the only way to beat him.

"You know what? I'm glad I left you." He said, bored of the game. He went back to his keyboard. Helena sighed to herself, as much as it hurt to admit, she was also glad they had broken up. The bell went. Helena collected her things and moved on to her next lesson; which was English. Helena's friend Neelofar was waiting outside the music room for her.

"Don't you own an alarm?" She started complaining as soon as Helena reached her. "God, your first day back at school and I have to wake you up! You're so lazy!"

Helena groaned, "Do you ever stop complaining?"

"No! Not when I'm always having to run round after my best friend."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Helena said then walked away.

"Hey! Don't you walk away from me!"

"Just did."

Neelofar jogged to catch up with her. "Ok I'm sorry for shouting, anyway what room you in."

"B21, what about you?"

"H3; which means I'm going the wrong way." She laughed, hugged Helena then scurried off to her next class.

The classroom was full when Helena got there but the teacher was absent. She sat down in her usual place next to Beth. She'd let her brown hair down today. Wait. Brown hair?

"You dyed your hair." Helena accused.

"Yeah." Beth said proudly, "Do you like it?"

"Its certainly – a change"

"Your just jealous," Beth laughed. Helena laughed too, but her mind was elsewhere.

I sudden hug took her by surprise.

"Hey frisky." Mahrokh said, with a little playful wink. Both of them burst into laughter. The only person who could make her smile at the moment, well Aiden as well but he didn't go to that school plus he was away on "business", god knows what business he had but he'd left.

"Hey Mookie," Helena smiled.

The door opened to the classroom and an unfamiliar student wandered into the room. He was tall and pale with long black hair that hid his eyes. He wore dark clothes that stood out against his pale skin. He walked to the back of the room and sat in a spare seat on his own at the back.

"Who's Mr Sexy pants then?" Mookie said. The new boy glanced over. Helena quickly averted her gaze from him.

"Shut up, Mookie!" Helena hissed. Mookie just laughed.

"Someone has a crush on the new boy." She patted Helena's shoulder still laughing. Helena rolled her eyes. She was pretty sure she didn't. He may be good looking but it was too early after a break up to even be thinking anything like that.

"The new boy is staring at you, well at least I think he is, I can't tell for the hair." Then she burst out laughing again. Such a bubbly character, Helena couldn't help but laugh along with her.

Just at that moment Mrs Hardy burst into the room in a fluster.

"Sorry I'm late, I was in the staff room and –" Her ranting turned into mumbling as she flicked through papers on her desk.

There were a few whispers among the class as she did this.

"Ok, we have a new student. Now where is he?" She glanced around the class. Instantly spotting him at the back of the classroom.

"This is Vladimir Tamzaran. He's new here, his family just moved here from Romania and I'd like you all to make him feel welcome." She introduced him. All heads turned towards him, the girls all seemed to fall in love with him at once and all the boys seemed amazed. Vladimir didn't talk; he sat there as they all made their opinions of him. He wasn't at all bothered by any of them.

Mrs Hardy left the room again without a word, as soon as she did the class bubbled into conversation. The boys sat in front of Vlad turned around in their seat to face him.

"So you new, yeah?" Bradley asked, he obviously didn't give a damn, "Did you move here from Romania?"

Vlad nodded, his face expressionless.

"Is it nice there?"

Vlad nodded again, the three other boys still sat judging him didn't intimidate him.

"Don't talk much do you?"

Vlad shook his head.

"I like him already," Bradley said turning back to the others with short laugh.

Helena stared at Vlad for a long while, wondering what his voice sounded like and then imagined him singing. She knew her imagination had always been her downfall. Maybe his voice was weird, or he didn't speak English well which is why he didn't talk. Then she began to wonder why she was thinking about him in the first place. She shouldn't even be looking at him, he was the new student, nobody even glanced at the new student but Helena found her eyes transfixed on his perfect face. _Vladimir Tamzaran_, she repeated his name in her head. At that very moment two shockingly bright pale green eyes met hers. Vlad had looked up as if he had called her name. Now their eyes held each other's, the bond seeming unbreakable. His eyes seemed to glisten as she stared, they were so beautiful. But there was something more, something behind them, something dark that she just couldn't make out. Instantly Vlad's face became expressionless. It was like his eyes froze over stopping her seeing any emotion.

"Has anyone told you its impolite to stare?" Mookie's voice dragging Helena back to reality. She instantly looked away from Vlad and up at Mahrokh who was stood with an obvious grin on her face.

"I sense chemistry." Mookie beamed, doing a little sparkling effect hand movement, then she burst out laughing again. Helena chuckled but it was only half-hearted, she was still thinking about what she had seen in his eyes.

Mrs Hardy burst back into the room again. "Mahrokh, go sit down please." She said as she dropped a pile of papers on to her desk. Mookie did so with a sigh. Mrs Hardy finally started the lesson, everyone got out their books and she gave Vlad his own book.

Helena glanced over at Vlad again, his elbows were on the desk and he had his head in his hand, while the other hand clutched his stomach. It looked to her like he was in pain, no one else seemed to have noticed.

"What's up with him?" Beth asked, music still blaring out of her earphone. She had followed Helena's gaze over to where he sat.

"I don't know." Helena sighed.

"Go ask him."

"Why don't you go ask him?" Helena challenged.

"'Cuz I'm not the one who cares whether he's alright." Beth said, turning back to her work. Helena felt her cheeks flush with colour.

"I don't either!" She protested.

"Girls! Do you mind?" Mrs Hardy was glaring at them now. Helena and Beth both glanced down and the teacher carried on with the lesson.

Helena couldn't concentrate on the lesson at all, her thoughts remained on the new boy. She would be glad to get out of that room, to clear her head. The bell finally rang, she sighed with relief. Freedom. She packed her things away.

"Can I have a volunteer to show Vladimir around?" Mrs Hardy had to shout over the class. Every girl's hand in the room went up, except Helena's and Beth's.

"Ok, Mahrokh. Show him to his next class."

Mookie turned around, still her bubbly self.

"So where are you next?" She asked very politely. Vlad said nothing, merely handed her a slip of paper. It was a timetable.

"Oh, your in science, with Mr Herries." She beamed at him and handed back the timetable. "Ready when you are." She said, then grabbed her bag and coat.

Helena watched, stunned as Vlad – without speaking – followed Mookie out of the room. She found it strange that Vlad looked at least a year older than the rest of the class. She shook her head. She mustn't think of him, she told herself this over and over again.

Before she knew it half the classroom was empty and she didn't have a clue where she was going next. Grabbing her timetable from her bag she skimmed down it. Only to realise her next lesson was science with Mr Herries. Helena had break time now, to think of a way of getting out of lesson.

Chapter 2

Vlad followed the smaller girl, along some corridors, across a bridge and through two sets of double doors. She pointed at a classroom door, the label read 'H3 Science Room'.

"This is where you are." The girl called Mahrokh – but referred to as Mookie – beamed at him. He nodded at her. The smile faded slightly. He felt a twinge of pity for the girl, he must be acting like such an inconsiderate twit right now but it was for her benefit in the end. If she stayed at distance everything would be ok. Everyone had to stay at distance.

"We're on break now, so if you want to go outside feel free and there's a canteen where you can get food on the other side of the school." She explained, her hands flailing wildly as she did. Vlad caught his smile before it could appear on his lips. The smaller girl was rather amusing and such a nice person it seemed a waste to make her unhappy. _Its for good reason_, he assured himself. Vlad shuffled uncomfortably, he realised that outside was going to be a problem, he had no idea where to go but no matter he would find a nice quiet corner to sit in. He nodded to Mahrokh and then left.

"He doesn't talk much, very quiet, but quiet in a polite, understanding way." Mookie was explaining to the others on the platform outside. Helena sat, not wanting to listen, not wanting to care but she did.

Charlie stood, listening. "Sounds like a right faggot, if you ask me." He commented. Helena wanted to hit him, to defend this helpless new boy, but she kept herself in her seat and her eyes fixed on the ground. Why did she want to defend this boy? She didn't know him. She shouldn't care about him.

"Don't be mean, Charlie. God!" Mookie defended him for her.

"Anyway, he'd beat you on looks any day."

True. Helena glanced at Charlie, a sting of pain hitting her broken heart as she looked at him but compared to Vladimir, Charlie looked like nothing. It was cruel to say but very true.

Charlie suddenly glanced at Helena, his lips curving with amusement as he found her staring at him, obviously misinterpreting it. Helena looked away, annoyed that he even thought she'd look at him that way ever again. She'd never look at any boy that way again. Her heart had been broken for the last time; she didn't trust any boys anymore.

Vladimir sat on his own; he'd found a nice spot behind the far building facing a farm His hunger hadn't got the better of him in that class. What a strange girl, Vlad thought to himself his thoughts straying, remembering the girl who had stared at him. She'd even thought about him. When she'd thought his name, he thought she'd called him but obviously not. He couldn't read her as well as he could read the others, her mind was too crowded with too many thoughts all at once and her main emotion was sadness. Her wall of sadness hit him hard when he had tried to read her mind and all her thoughts had just tumbled around him. He had left her mind alone at that point

The bell rang. Vlad lifted himself up from where he sat and made his way to the new building. He managed to find his classroom with ease and entered. He was the first one there, that wasn't surprising. He had moved quite quickly through the corridors.

"Ah, welcome." The teacher said. Mr Herries, he remembered the name from earlier. "I'm assuming you're the new student, Vladimir is it?"

Vlad nodded.

"Hmm, you'll need a seat let me just check the seating plan." The man routed through the top draw of his desk for a few minutes, eventually bringing out several sheets of paper.

"Ah here we are!" successfully finding the page. He glanced over it quickly and then looked up.

"There is a seat on the third row at this far end," he said, indicating at the left end at the desk, "Or there is a seat at the back in right hand corner. Feel free to take either of them."

Vlad nodded again, not wanting to speak. He moved swiftly to the back of the room and took the seat.

It wasn't long before other students began piling into the room. Vlad looked at the desk, ignoring the feeling of eyes on him. He knew what they were seeing, the lie they were seeing. He wasn't one of them, a normal everyday human teenager, but that's what they saw. The lie they all saw. He heard the chair move next to him, he glanced up to see a boy with long brown hard and dark – almost black – eyes. He had a heart-shaped and a dusting of freckles. The black eyes staring down at him were curious but not friendly.

Vlad's eyes darted away from the boy's as he saw the girl from before enter the room. Her head was hung, as if ashamed of something, she moved quickly to her seat. Which was the one next to the right end of the third row. He sighed with relief, but part of him scolded himself for not sitting there, but he didn't know why.

He then noticed while looking at her then that water was dripping off of her hair. In fact she was almost entirely soaked and it wasn't water, it seemed to be some kind of pop. People were whispering and sniggering at her. Vlad suddenly felt compelled to defend her, but stayed in his place.

"Hey! Ella!" Vlad jumped as the boy next to him shouted, now also looking at the girl. The girl turned around her eyes meeting his for the briefest of seconds then quickly moving to the boy next to him. Her surprised look; turned quickly to a frown.

"You a bit wet?" He taunted. The girl grimaced and turned away.

Vlad looked at the boy with disbelief, how could he be so heartless. Poor thing, he thought looking at the girl. He wanted to help her but went against himself and clung to the desk to keep himself in his seat.

The teacher cleared his throat, as he did the talking all gradually faded out to silence. The teacher's gaze landed on the girl, it looked like he was trying not to roll his eyes, and this made Vlad angry, even the teacher didn't care.

"Again?" Mr Herries said.

The girl looked down at the desk and nodded.

"Get to the bathroom and go clean yourself up."

The girl got up and moved out of the room without a word, quiet sniggers and murmurs followed her as she left. Vlad stared after her.

Helena let a solitary tear trickle down her cheek as she entered the girls' bathrooms. She grabbed a handful of paper towels, wet them slightly and started to rub at her shirt. This wasn't going to work. She needed to get home. She couldn't deal with school today. She'd had enough. First she had been late, then the new boy had looked at her with something close to loathing, then Charlie had hurt her again, then chavs had thrown a bottle of pop over her and worst of all the new boy had seen her. Her thoughts stopped dead there. Why would she care that Vlad had seen her like this? But strangely she did. Pushing the thought aside she looked around, quickly realising she'd left her bag back in chemistry. Groaning she turned to head back to the classroom.

She paused outside the classroom door suddenly aware of just who was on the other side. Then she also realised that the teacher wouldn't let her go if she told him. She sighed then forced the door open, showing she wasn't going to take anything from anybody. She kept a hard, strong look on her face as she marched to her desk, snatched up her bag and coat and whirled back to face the door. She felt the eyes on her but no one dared to speak. She stormed back towards the door.

"Where do you think you are –?" The words died on the teachers tongue as she gave a sharp defying glance. He held his hands up as surrender and allowed her to leave without further question. Once out the door Helena broke into a sprint realising she only had minutes before the behaviour unit was called and she would be caught and detained.

Her heart raced as she sprinted down the corridors, luckily she didn't pass anyone along the way. She finally reached the door to freedom and ran to her bike.

Soon she was speeding off up the road towards home.

Vlad watched as Mr Herries picked up a mobile phone off of his desk. Vlad read his mind and found out he was calling a behaviour unit to come and find her, which meant she'd be in trouble. Vlad instantly put the thought into Mr Herries mind to put the phone down and forget about it. The teacher's face changed to something close to frustration, then his expression went blank. He put the phone back down on the desk and suddenly looked up at the class. Vlad was relieved when the teacher began to teach the lesson again. Vlad suddenly realised what he had done. He'd just defended a girl he hardly even knew. He'd used his powers, the ones he'd sworn only to use in case of an emergency to stop a girl he hardly knew getting in trouble. He then corrected himself, he didn't know her at all, he only learnt her first name this morning and that was from her friend's mind. He didn't know her last name, or anything about her really. Vlad let his head rest in his hands as he began to consider this.

"So you like Helena then?" The question caught him off guard; he glanced to his side to see the boy next to him staring at him expectantly. When he didn't answer the boy continued, "I wouldn't bother if I was you. She's not the nicest of girls to be with. She stresses out all the time and you can't even glance at another girl without her getting upset. So don't waste your time with her, is all I'm saying."

Vlad was startled at this sudden outburst. "Oh…I wasn't…I don't…" Vlad was unsure of what to say.

"Hey, forget about it. I'm Charlie by the way."

"Vlad." Was all he replied.

"Where do you come from?"

"Romania. We just moved here."

"That's cool." Charlie said, "Anyway I just saw that way you looked at Helena and assumed you liked her."

"No, it's not like that. I don't even know her." Vlad felt uncomfortable speaking here, knowing his accent was still there when he spoke but what made him more uncomfortable was what they were talking about.

"Yeah well, don't even bother even if you do get to like her. Sure she's good at _some_ parts of being a girlfriend but not others." Charlie said as a slow smirk crept across his face. Vlad couldn't help the curiosity that bit at him. Vlad read Charlie's thoughts and was shocked by what he saw. The images of the girl cuddling up to him, getting him things, doing what he wanted her to do. Other thoughts were adult rated thoughts. Vlad felt intrusive as an image of the girl flashed from Charlie's mind to his, she wasn't wearing much and that's when Vlad decided he wouldn't read anymore of what Charlie thought. _Teenage boys these day have no respect for women_, Vlad thought bitterly as he looked at Charlie, who thought nothing more of women than sex objects. While in Charlie's mind he'd seen clips of where Helena had told Charlie she loved him – that had hurt Vlad, but he didn't know why – and Charlie had replied that he loved her too but there was no truth in what Charlie had said. He had only said it to keep her happy. Vlad scowled and looked back to the front of the classroom. He felt a hunger pang hit him as a girl giving out books brushed past him, her scent hit him quite hard. He hadn't fed in a few days; perhaps it hadn't been wise coming to school on an empty stomach.

He turned his attention to the fields outside; suddenly realising it was raining. He'd been so caught up in thinking about Helena he hadn't even noticed the telltale pattering of rain on the glass.

The fire bell suddenly rang, everyone quickly manoeuvred out of their seat, rushing towards the door. Vlad meanwhile stayed seated, staring out at the glass. Staring at the hill that led to Clayton. Vlad noticed a motorbike speeding up the hill and grimaced. Those kinds of vehicles should be left to his kind, those who wouldn't so easily die on them. He enjoyed the occasional ride on his but pitied the humans who rode them everyday. Them people would die sooner than they expected many bikers would disagree but he'd seen it happen once to often in his lifetime.

"Um…Vladimir?" the teacher was still stood at the door, "We have to evacuate the building."

Vlad didn't say a word, but simply rose from his seat and exited the room, moving quickly past Mr Herries.

"Where are you?" Neelofar's panicked voice came down the phone.

"I'm at home" Helena replied. "Why?"

"Thank god. There's been a fire drill. Just wanted to make sure you were safe because I didn't see you."

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Don't forget about Bradford Youth Players tonight."

"Damn!" Helena has completely forgotten about that. "I better go, I have to get showered and changed and get ready. I'll speak to you soon."

"Ok, we're all going home now anyway. No point going back to lesson for five minutes."

"Ok, bye"

"See ya."

Helena rushed to the bathroom, quickly turning on the shower and getting the towels and her clothes.

Soon she was under the warm water. As soon as she was, her thoughts turned to Vlad. Why was she so obsessed with the guy? Why did she care what he thought of her? It's not like it made a difference to her, but in the back of her mind she knew it would make a difference to her.

Chapter 3

"So, you got any plans this Saturday?" Joe asked. Helena thought for a moment.

"No I don't think I do, why?" She replied, wiping the sweat – that had formed while she was dancing – from her forehead.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go to the cinema with me and a few friends." Joe was a little hesitant but managed to get the words out eventually.

"Yes, sure. What time are we meeting?"

"Two pm?"

"Yeah ok, I'll be there" She took her bag from the windowsill where she had left it and turned to the door.

"Wait a minute guys!" Laura the dance instructor suddenly shouted just as everyone was about to leave. Everyone now turned back but didn't move closer. "I have a someone coming tomorrow to teach you how to do couples lifts. So you better be here because it's the only night he can get here. Ok you can go now."

Vlad sat at the breakfast table, staring blankly at the wood. Lost in thoughts of Helena he didn't even notice the kitchen door open behind him.

Jasper seated himself next to Vlad and watched his face for a moment. "Anything I can help with?" his brother finally said.

"There's nothing wrong." Vlad replied but didn't look away from the wood.

"I've known you for centuries, brother. I know when something's up. So come on, what is it that's bothering you?"

"It's a girl." Vlad said.

"Carry on." Jasper prompted when Vlad stayed silent.

"It's just that I don't even know her, yet I feel I know all about her. She catches my attention where ever she is and I just feel compelled to protect her." Vlad explained. Jasper stayed silent for a moment, considering the information, then he smiled.

"You've found your soulmate, little bro'." Jasper smiled at him.

Vlad looked at his brother in horror, he didn't honestly think Helena was his soulmate. Vlad didn't even know her, but yet he did. Vlad shook his head pushing the thought aside.

"She's not my soulmate." Vlad said dryly.

"Sounds like a soulmate to me."

"Well she's not my soulmate"

"Ok if you say so, you'll be sorry when you lose her though." And with that last comment his brother left.

Vlad dropped his head on to the table. This couldn't be true. This couldn't happen.

Finally checking his watch he noticed that school had started fifteen minutes ago and sighed. He had to go back now; he'd enrolled in this school. It had been his idea so he'd have to live with it now.

Helena watched blankly as Mrs Baptiste explained about the risks of alcohol. Another boring Religious studies lesson. Beth was away today so she put her bag on the chair next to her. Mookie sat behind her.

"Psst!" She heard Mookie hiss. Helena ignored her, not in the mood for talking. "Psst!" Mookie said again but just a little louder. Yet again Helena ignored her. "Psst!" Mookie said much louder. Helena felt something hard hit the back of her head; she guessed from the sound that it was a pen. "Psst!" Mookie said again, this time she felt a pencil case hit the back of her head. Helena scowled at the wall in front of her. "Psssssst!" Mookie said again, this time the textbook hit her head. The force of the impact nearly caused Helena to lunge forward and hit her head on the desk.

Helena turned slowly in her chair to face Mookie. Mookie smiled and whispered "Hi."

Helena rolled her eyes, all that for a 'hi'.

"Mr sexy pants is here." She whispered. Helena's eyes instantly darted towards the door. Sure enough Vlad was just closing it behind him.

"You're late." Mrs Baptiste commented.

"He's going to have to sit next to you." Mookie whispered. Helena looked around the room and to her horror Mookie was right, the seat next to her was the only one left. Glancing at his face she knew that Vlad had noticed too.

"You can sit there." Miss pointed at the seat next to Helena and Vlad moved to the seat and sat down. Helena heard Mookie snigger behind her.

Miss started up from where she left off. Helena couldn't help but notice his scent. He smelled good, very good. She involuntarily leaned closer to him to get more of his scent. Her eyes closed as she did so, enjoying it.

"Do you two lovebirds mind?" Mrs Baptiste's sudden interruption made her open her eyes. She gasped as she realised Vlad had done the exact same thing towards her. Helena realised how this must look and moved back and looked at Mrs Baptiste. She was shocked to notice that the comment had been directed at her and Vlad. She glanced around the room, to see girls staring in envy, some people in shock, others didn't look surprised at all. She saw Vlad stiffen out of the corner of her eye as he realised too.

Helena glanced back to see that even Mookie looked shocked.

The glares and stares one by one started to disappear as Miss began talking again. Helena looked to Vlad. He was staring down at the pen in his hand, his expression blank.

She wondered what he was thinking. He must hate her for this; this was going to eat at her all day. Part of her felt humiliated, she didn't know the other feeling. Somewhere between longing and disappointment or maybe a mixture of the two.

"You were gonna kiss him!" Mookie squealed as soon as they were out of the classroom and Vlad was well out of hearing distance.

"No, I wasn't Mookie." Helena sighed, "He smelled good and I just leaned closer and – "

"Pshhyaa, don't ruin my excitement!" Mookie interrupted, "So you're over Charlie then?"

"Yes, I'm over him." The words came out a little sharper than Helena had intended, but luckily Mookie – being Mookie – ignored her.

"Come on, I want lunch."

Vlad stood by himself by the old building of the school, the place he sat the day before had been fenced off much to his displeasure. He stood thinking about the last lesson. She had smelled so good, so mouth-wateringly good. She had also leaned toward him for some reason, and from what he could gather from thoughts everyone thought they were going to kiss. Even the small girl Mookie had screamed it at Helena as soon as she'd left the classroom. What would have happened if he had closed the gap between their faces, until their lips were inches apart, looked into her eyes and –

"Hey! Vlad! Over here!" Vlad glanced up toward the familiar voice. Charlie stood a few meters away from him. "You look lonely, wanna come with us?" Vlad noticed the boy stood next to Charlie, very slim build, with long brown hair that wasn't quite as long as Charlie's.

Vlad considered this for a moment.

"Come on we don't bite." The other boy said. _No, but I do_, Vlad thought with a grimace. Then realised that the boys weren't going to back down, so he sighed and pushed away form the wall.

"That's more like it." The other boy said as they started to lead the way down the slope and around the corner.

"This is James by the way." Charlie said, indicating toward the boy walking beside him, "James this is Vlad."

James whirled around and began waking backwards, "Hello," James said extending a hand for Vlad to shake. Vlad hesitated and then shook his hand.

"Yeah, James is a bit of a freak." Charlie commented seeing the look on Vlad's face. They walked under G-floor Bridge and began ascending some stairs that led up to platform. Vlad could already see a number of people up there and the noise coming from up there was incredible.

Charlie and James were greeted by people shouting their name, hugs and waves. Vlad felt very awkward and out of place, he didn't know anybody besides James and Charlie. There were three benches lined up against the back wall. Vlad seated himself on the one furthest away from the stairs in the corner next to G-floor Bridge.

"Look what the cat dragged in!" Charlie shouted with obvious amusement. "Look at the state of her" he said to James, with a laugh.

"Aww, leave her alone you tight bastard," James replied. Just at that moment Vlad saw Helena walk up the stairs accompanied by Mookie. Her face was covered with an orange liquid that looked like it had dried and gone crusty; there was spaghetti in her hair and more food all over her jacket.

"What happened?" James asked, giving her a quick hug and leading her to the bench.

"Chavs in the canteen." Mookie rolled her eyes. Vlad was relieved to see that Helena hadn't noticed him. She looked a mess, if Vlad had of been there the person who did it would no longer be living. Vlad managed to avoid catching her gaze for the rest of lunchtime.

Drama in B1, Vlad wandered along B-floor trying to find the room. He finally came to a door that had a big 'Drama' sign on it with the label B1 further down. Mookie was in his class, he noticed her instantly when he walked into the room. The teacher looked at him puzzled for a minute.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

"I'm a new student here." He said quietly.

"Ah yes," She exclaimed, obviously remembering "come in, sit down anywhere you like."

Vlad glanced around the classroom once, most of the girls faces looked inviting, but he played safe and sat down in the spare seat next to Mookie.

"Hi Vlad." She said. Vlad nodded a hello back.

The lesson passed on quite quickly, he tried to ignore Mookie, did some acting and tried to get through everything he could.

The bell rang and everyone got out of their seats. "Vladimir, can you wait behind a minute." The teacher said just as he was about to leave.

"You have a real talent for acting" The teacher said once everyone had left, I was just going to recommend this. She led him over to the computer and showed him the website up on screen. Vlad read through what was on it. "I think you'd do well there and it'd help your grade a lot here, give it a try its on tonight."

"Ok, I'll give it a go," Vlad said.

"I'll print off the address and contact information for you."

_Well I've got myself into something else_, Vlad thought grimly.

Helena walked in the doors of Little Lane Church with a smile it was good to be out of school and at BYP. Joe and Nicole greeted her with a hug as she entered the main hall; they went to sit on a chair each by the windows and started talking. Occasionally people would walk past and say 'hello' and sometimes stop for a hug, but other than that they were left alone.

"Look that's the guy who's teaching us the lifts." Joe pointed out as an unfamiliar man strode past to collect his bag from next to them.

"I wonder who I'll be paired up with," Nicole said sarcastically, glancing toward Joe with displeasure.

"I'll probably end up with George knowing my luck," Helena joked, Nicole laughed and they all looked at the smaller boy, each imagining the sight of him trying to do a lift with Helena. Disaster was obvious for that one.

"Come on, gather round." Laura yelled.

Nicole, Helena and Joe all rose form their seats and began making their way over. "I hope I get someone who can actually lift me." Helena whispered to Nicole. "I'm not exactly the slimmest, lightest girl in the world."

Nicole rolled her eyes, "Your fine."

"Right," Laura said, "this is Ian and he will be teaching you how to do partner lifts because we might use some of these in the next production.

Ok, I'll start by pairing you up," She glanced around at all of them, "Lawrence go with Helena please, Jess with George," She paused again. "Joe with Melissa," Both Nicole and Helena looked at each other with a smirk. Joe was so weak it was unbelievable; it was amazing he could support his own body weight. "Nicole with Tyler," Nicole looked at Helena with a shocked look, Helena shrugged apologetically, telling Nicole silently that there was nothing she could do. Just as Laura was about to pair up the last few the door opened, everyone glanced over.

Helena's jaw dropped, as the black haired, pale skinned, muscular – but not too muscular – boy wandered into the room. He was clad in jeans and a plain black t-shirt.

"Everyone this is Vladimir, he's the newest member to BYP." Rosie announced jus after she'd rushed over to greet him.

"Oh well that changed things," Laura said, glancing back over the couple she'd put together. "Tyler you can work with me, Vladimir, you can work with Nicole." Nicole glanced at Helena, biting her lip with happiness she mouthed the works 'Oh my god' to Helena. Helena felt a sudden pang of jealousy as Vlad joined Nicole.

"Ok," Ian began, "take your partner as such." He took Laura's hands, her hands crossed over her chest the left on reach to take his that slid behind her back and her right one clasped his hand at the front. "And I want you to lean, make sure you keep a strong hold on your partners hand and make sure her hip always stays level with your hip. Also make sure you don't go so far down that you can't support her weight anymore."

Vlad and Nicole stood next to Helena and Lawrence. Lawrence took Helena's hands and managed to support her weight as he lowered them down and she kicked her leg out. She glanced over to see Nicole and Vlad doing the same thing, Vlad did it effortlessly. It was obvious by her face that Nicole was enjoying being so close to him.

"Good." Laura and Ian commented as they looked at both couples then moved on to examine the others, making comments, doing adjustments to positions and advising as they went along. When they were sure that everyone had got it right they returned to the front.

"Can I just make one change?" Laura asked.

"Sure." Ian said.

"Nicole and Helena swap." Both girls glanced at each other and then at their partner. "Now." Laura said getting impatient. Nicole and Helena swapped, Nicole give Helena a sly slap on the arm and a dirty look for making her swap – although it wasn't her fault.

"Ok then, the next move is called 'Dead mans drop' and it goes like this, observe where my hands are and how Laura moves. Ian took Laura's hands firmly in his own, Laura one foot on the floor between his feet and allowed herself the fall backwards, he caught her, her head inches away from the floor. Ian lifted her back up.

"Remember, this is a dangerous move, it is the girl who is at risk." Ian said looking around with a serious expression, "Ok, off you go."

All the couples except Helena and Vlad instantly turned toward each other to start. Helena hesitantly turned toward Vlad, his beautiful green eyes met hers; he was just as hesitant as she was. He held out his hands for her, she placed her hands in his, his hands had a good strong grip on her instantly. Helena began to worry, what if he dropped her? she'd smash her head open on the floor. What if she did it wrong and looked like an idiot? All panicked thoughts started to circle in her head.

"I won't drop you." The sudden unfamiliar but beautiful voice brought her out of her worries. She glanced at Vlad, his voice was amazing, almost musical and that accent, god, talk about sexy. It somehow eased her worry. Helena took a deep breath, put her foot in between his and let herself fall. Her heart went into her mouth as she felt herself fall. She waited of the loud bang and the pain in her head, but it never came, slowly she opened her eyes. Vlad had a firm hold on her hands, she was fine, her head was inches from the floor and could have easily been broken and spread all over it.

"That's brilliant," Ian commented as he looked at theirs. Vlad pulled Helena back to her feet.

Ian went around helping the other couples and then returned to the front.

"Ok, Laura has been called away for the minute so Helena can you help me with the next lift." Ian said. Helena moved to the front. "Ok watch everyone, Helena places your left foot next to my right." she did so, "Place your hands on my shoulders," She did so, Ian's right arm circled her waist and his left arm hitched her right leg up as if to wrap it around his waist, but instead just held it waist level. Helena felt that this was starting to get a little too intimate. Her eyes slid over to Vlad, his face was blank but his eyes showed anger and envy. Slowly Ian bent his back leg and went down but bowed his upper body forward as he did,

"Lean back" Ian whispered. Helena let her upper body flop backwards. She glanced at the faces around her; everyone's except Vlad's and Joe's was amused. Ian brought her back up.

"Get on with it then." He said to everyone. Helena wandered back over to Vlad. His angry expression relaxed as she approached him. She hesitated then put her foot next to his and his hands on his shoulders, Vlad's arm slid behind her back, then he hitched her leg up. Such close contact sent a little shiver down her spine. Vlad looked at her, realising she had actually shuddered she blushed bright red. Vlad gave her a half smile and began to lean; Helena lent back as he did.

Vlad looked at the lyrics in front of him, he knew them off by heart, and he loved Queen but pretended not to know them. All he could think about was dancing with Helena and how close the last lift they had done had been. As he had brought her up, their faces had been so close. He'd stared into her beautiful blue eyes until Rosie had interrupted. Then again, Nicole had been getting suspicious of something anyway.

"Joe would you like to sing first? Everyone joins in on the chorus." Rosie asked and started the song. Vlad mouthed the words to the chorus when everyone else was singing. He didn't feel like singing, his mind was pre-occupied with Helena. The song soon ended and everyone clapped for Joe.

"Ok, who's next?" Rosie asked.

"I think Vlad should do it." Val said.

Vlad looked up sharply, distracted from his thoughts, "Oh, I couldn't –"

"Of course you can, c'mon."

Vlad dipped into her mind, she wasn't going to give up. He sighed and stepped forward. The backing track to Killer Queen started and he started singing. He heard gasps from behind him and saw the shocked faces of Laura and Rosie, Val just grinned at him, a knowing grin.

Helena stood listening to Vlad sing; he was amazing. She stared at the back of his head in awe. He was just perfect in everyway. The song finished and he turned around to walk back. At first there was silence, Val started clapping and slowly everyone joined in until it was a huge cheer.

"That was brilliant, Vlad." Val commented.

"Amazing." Rosie said, smiling at him. Vlad looked quite embarrassed as everyone smiled and stared at him.

"Oh look at the time," Rosie said, "well we'll pick up on this next week."

Everyone took that as a goodbye and went to collect their things. Nicole and Joe had already left by the time Helena had grabbed her bag and turned to look for them. She sighed, slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way to the door, accepting hugs goodbye from other members along the way.

"Helena, wait up." The voice caught her by surprise and she swung round sharply. Vlad was already right in front of her.

"Uh….um…yeah?" Helena was lost for words. This beautiful specimen of a boy was actually talking to her.

"I'll walk you to your car." He said. "it's dark outside." He didn't wait for her to reply but started walking, she caught up with him and led him out the door. She walked out into the car park, him right beside her and stopped in the middle. She was facing her bike.

"Well here we are." She said, not daring to step any closer to it.

"Where?" he asked, glancing around at the cars, not even considering the bike. Helena hesitantly walked toward her bike.

"Here." She said, lifting her jacket and helmet out from under the seat where she kept them.

"Oh," Vlad breathed, he looked over the big, mean looking bike, then over her small, fragile body. This thing could kill her, he realised with sudden horror. She was riding around on a death trap. A sudden image of her broken body lying on the road flashed through his mind, her face drained of all colour, her eyes shut, her heart silenced and so much blood. He stopped as he felt a sudden shifting in his mouth, and it suddenly felt very crowded. He knew instantly his fangs would be visible if he even began to open his mouth. He wouldn't be able to stop her taking the bike home alone tonight, but he would follow her and make sure she was ok. He turned from her to speak. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Are you going to Alton towers tomorrow?" Helena asked shakily.

"When?" He replied, still facing away.

"We're meeting outside school at seven-fifteen tomorrow morning. But you had to have had your medical form and things in a while ago."

Vlad considered for a minute. A theme park would take his mind off of things.

"I'll be there." He said then strolled to his car without another word.

Chapter 4

Helena set her clothes out on her desk chair next to her bed ready for Alton towers in the morning. She then proceeded to the bathroom and turned on the shower. The warm water was soothing, she thought about Vlad. He had been so nice, up until he had seen her bike. She shrugged to herself; maybe he just wasn't a bike person. She heard the muffled sounds of talking over the roar of the shower. Suddenly realising it was the TV. _Damned thing must have turned itself on again_, she thought.

Turning off the water and wrapping a towel around her, she walked into the living room to turn off the TV and froze as she saw a figure sat on the couch. Then it turned to face her with a wicked smile. He was gorgeous. His face was flawless. His bright blue eyes skimming over her. Suddenly he was in front of her.

"Hello, Helena." He smiled. His cold breath blew across her face; she stared up into his eyes suddenly feeling very off balance and dizzy.

"I'm Damien." His hand caressed her cheek, his skin cold but not too cold. It sent a little shudder down her spine.

"What are you –" She began but Damien put his finger to her lips to silence her.

"Shh. You've had a long day, you should relax." He said while leading her to the coach and pulling her down to sit next to him.

"How did –" Her protest died as his lips claimed hers. All her fears and questions died also. She completely forgot about them and melted against him. Why shouldn't she be doing this? But no answer arose. _I love you_, the voice of Damien was in her mind. She believed him and didn't question why he could speak in her mind.

Damien's kisses left her lips and travelled down her throat, then a sudden sting where his kiss had been made her gasp in pain. The pain almost instantly faded to a numb and pleasant tingle. She moaned in protest as he pulled away, but he simply scooped her up in his arms and carried her to her bedroom. Her head rested against his chest as he carried her and she closed her eyes as he lay her down. There moment together on the couch had left her feeling weak and tired. _Its just the excitement_, she thought.

She drifted off into a pleasant sleep.

Helena arrived early at school the next morning; Neelofar and Mookie were waiting for her at the gate. The sky over-head was dull and cloudy.

"Look like it's gonna rain again this year." Mookie commented moodily.

"Ah well. At least it's a day out." Helena said, unusually chirpy. She still felt weak and her neck was rather tender but there was no mark when she checked in the mirror this morning.

"So who you sitting next to on the coach, Helena?" Neelofar asked. Helena hadn't considered this, she'd just assumed she'd sit next to Mookie or Neelofar. "We aren't on your coach." Neelofar helped, noticing Helena's puzzled expression.

Just at that moment a black Porsche Carrera GT pulled up at the other side of the road. Vlad got out of the drivers side, today he wore a black Slipknot t-shirt, a pair of faded pale blue jeans and a pair of black trainers. So casual; yet so gorgeous. Helena gawped at him. She quickly averted her gaze as he glanced towards them.

"Well this answers the question of who she's sitting on the coach with." Mookie nudged Neelofar, Neelofar giggled. Helena looked to see he was actually making his way over to them.

Vlad could hear the small girl Mookie and the other girl Neelofar talking about him, but he wasn't paying attention. He was looking over Helena, she was unusually pale and there were dark rings under her eyes. He tried to access her mind, but it was a jumble again, he couldn't make much out of what she was thinking. Only that she was tired but excited, her main two feelings at that moment.

"Hello." He said as he reached them.

"Hey Vlad!" Mookie beamed, bubbly as ever.

"Hi." Neelofar said, not the slightest bit uncomfortable.

Last of all Vlad looked toward Helena, she looked even worse up close. Her beautiful face was now so pale and her eyes showed tiredness and pain. All he wanted to do was take her into his arms and tell her everything would be ok.

"Good morning." She said politely.

"Vlad, Helena needs a friend to sit next to on the coach, will you sit next to her?" Mookie said, drawing his attention back to her.

"Of course I will." He said. He felt a wave of Helena's embarrassment wash over him, the emotion was very strong within her. He glanced to her, her cheeks weren't as red as a normal person's would be but still embarrassment was obvious in her expression.

"Come on, on the coach!" Mr Smith shouted from next to the two vehicles. The crowd suddenly started to move. Vlad kept by Helena's side the whole time, but they didn't speak. Not even on the coach journey.

* * * *

"Mookie!" Helena cried out, "Neelofar!" but the theme park was too crowded. Helena couldn't see them anywhere. _Drat_, she thought. Helena took out her phone and dialled Mookie's number, but she couldn't even hear the ringing for all the noise. Helena snapped the phone shut and wandered past the roller coaster to find a quiet spot to call Mookie in. She wandered through some trees at the side of the park until she was far enough away from most of the noise. She took out her phone and dialled the number again. Mookie answered about 4 rings.

"Helena, where are you?" Mookie shouted obviously straining over the crowded area behind her.

"Where are _you_?" Helena said, sounding very annoyed, "You left me!"

"I didn't mean to! I –"

"Hello precious," A familiar voice said. Helena glanced up to see a smiling Damien. Mookie was suddenly forgotten as she stared into his eyes. Damien wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close.

"Helena! Helena!" Mookie's angry voice brought her attention back to the phone.

"Mookie, I'll call you later ok?"

"Wait! Where are you? Who's with you? Wh –" Mookie was cut off as Helena snapped the phone shut and slid it back in her pocket. She wrapped her arms around Damien's neck.

"What are you doing here?" She asked with a smile. He gave a short laugh and kissed her forehead gently.

"Thought you might get lonely. So I decided to crash." He nuzzled the none tender side of her neck, but it reminded her of the pain.

"Damien, you know yesterday after you kissed me?"

"Yes," He murmured while kissing her neck.

"Well my neck was – well – really sore today, I was just wondering if you knew why." She felt really embarrassed just asking, but he took her seriously.

"I don't know, babe. Perhaps you slept funny on it, I only kissed you." He assured her. "By the way, can I consider you my girlfriend yet? Or do you need time?"

Helena smiled, her gaze taking in his handsome face. "I suppose, as long as I can consider you my boyfriend."

"We have a deal." Damien laughed and then suddenly his lips were on hers.

"Vlad!" The panicked voice of Mookie startled Vlad. He'd never heard the girl sound so scared. He turned to see Mookie and Neelofar running toward him, he left his place in the refreshments queue to meet them.

"Woah, calm down." He said just as Mookie almost ran straight into him. "What's wrong?"

"We can't find Helena," Neelofar said through taking big gasps to get her breath back. "She called us to find out where we were and now we can't find her."

Vlad relaxed slightly, she'd called which meant she was fine and it wasn't like she could leave the theme park.

"I'm sure she'll turn up." He said, slightly annoyed that they had frightened him.

"No it's not just that. When she talked I heard someone else talk to her. It was a guy and a voice I didn't recognise." Mookie cut in. "She didn't talk after that, she just said she'll call me later and hung up."

Vlad's heart rose into his throat. A guy! A stranger was off somewhere now with Helena, doing god knows what.

"Where was she last?" Vlad asked urgently.

"We lost her in forbidden valley where Rita is."

"Lets go" Vlad said, leading the way. It was such an inconvenience to walk at human speed in a situation like this, but he walked briskly. His head was swimming with images of a what the stranger could be doing to Helena right now. He clenched his fists in fury. If this person had hurt Helena at all, he'd pay.

Soon they reached forbidden valley. Vlad sniffed the air trying to find her scent, but there were too many to distinguish one from the other. He cursed under his breath.

"Where could she be?" Mookie asked, still panicked. "It didn't sound this busy when she was on the phone."

Vlad glanced around for a quiet spot. Noticing the trees he started toward them, they would offer some protection from the noise. Vlad suddenly came to a halt as a strong scent hit him. It was the scent of his own kind. Another vampire was in this theme park and Helena was missing. Vlad's body felt heavy. If he'd gotten to her, she'd be dead by now.

"Are you ok?" Neelofar asked, forcing him out of his trance. Vlad gulped and carried on walking. He got whiff of Helena's scent and his heart sunk. She was with the vampire. Vlad heard a soft moan in the distance, it was Helena's voice. His heightened hearing had picked it up, whereas Mookie and Neelofar's ears couldn't. Vlad broke into a run, she was still alive, but for how long?

"Helena!" Mookie called out. _Damn it, woman_! Vlad thought, the sound would scare the culprit off and Vlad wouldn't get the chance to beat him senseless. Helena suddenly came into view and Vlad's heart sunk further. She was lying motionless on the ground. Mookie and Neelofar noticed too and he heard them gasp and come to a halt behind him. Vlad slowed and dropped to his knees beside her. He stared at her for a long moment. He picked up a faint heartbeat and he noticed a slow rhythm of her chest rising and falling as she breathed. He let out a sigh of relief. He picked her up in his arms so that her head leant against his chest, she was unconscious.

"She's alive, just unconscious." He assured the girls. They stared at her for a minute, not quite believing that she wasn't dead. He didn't blame them, she was very pale and limp in his arms.

"Look at the time, we better hurry back for the coaches!" Mookie said, looking at her watch. She then glanced to Vlad, "Will you be ok carrying her? Or should I call a teacher?"

"I'll be fine, she isn't heavy." He said, that was an under-statement, she was practically weightless with his strength.

The journey back through the park was a long one. Many people stared, some gasped with shock and some asked what was wrong but Vlad and the girls ignored them all. All of them eager to get back to the coaches.

"Oh my, what happened?" Miss Nicholls asked with concern as she spied Helena in Vlad's arms.

"She passed out from the heat." Vlad said before Mookie or Neelofar could say anything. The girls looked at each other but didn't argue.

"Oh, well get her on the coach then."

Vlad walked through the car park with her still in his arms, he was alone with her now as he walked, the girls had got on their coach. He glanced down at Helena, she looked so fragile in his arms but also very beautiful. He wanted to protect her, to love her, to have her as his own. Maybe Jasper had been right. Maybe they were soulmates, Vlad hadn't felt like this for any girl for centuries. She stirred slightly and he smiled, in fact, he thought he'd quite enjoy her as a soulmate.

There were gasps as he entered the bus. He ignored the stares and carried her to their seat, managing not to injury anyone along the way. He set her in the seat next to the window and did up her seatbelt, then he took his own seat next to her. He took off his jacket, rolled it up and put it against the window as a pillow. Silently, he took her hand in his and squeezed it.

"Hey Vlad, what's up with her?" Charlie asked from the seat in front of him.

"She fainted because of the heat." Vlad said then turned back to watch Helena's face.

"Where'd she faint?"

"Forbidden valley."

"And you carried her all the way back here?!" Charlie sounded shocked and amazed.

Vlad simply nodded, keeping his eyes on Helena.

"So you two are together." Charlie said grimly, Vlad glanced at him only to see that his gaze was on their entwined hands.

"No, we're just friends." Vlad said flatly. He wished they were together.

Charlie said nothing, he just turned back around in his seat.

Soon they were on the way back, Vlad sat thinking about what had happened. All of this could have been avoided if he had just stayed with them and not wandered away alone. Helena could be awake and happy, but if he ever saw the guy who did this to Helena he'd kill him.

Helena suddenly shifted, she leaned toward Vlad. He didn't know how to react, so he stayed still. Her head rested on his shoulder, she was still asleep. He glanced down at her sleeping face; she looked so peaceful, so pale, if he didn't know better he would have thought she was dead. He looked away, the word soulmate circling around in his head. Glancing around the coach he saw a lot of sleeping people, he was suddenly aware that all of this time the noise level had dropped to whispering. People were talking about them, he could hear them, even teachers. Vlad sighed; he was tired and hungry. He hadn't fed last night. The scents of the humans around him were almost mouth watering but he couldn't think about feeding now, not with Helena in the state she was in.

"Vlad." A weak voice sighed. Vlad turned his head sharply to look at Helena, but she was still asleep. Vlad felt all fuzzy and warm inside all of a sudden. _She's dreaming about me_, he thought with a smile. It was impossible for him to resist the urge to peek into her dream. At first he was worried that he wouldn't be able to read her but in her sleep she was very vulnerable to his power.

What he saw was Helena in a lovely ice blue dress, with matching lace gloves. Her pale skin was back to its normal colour and shining against the dim light, almost like it was reflecting it. Her deep ocean blue eyes shimmered with happiness; her usually short blonde hair was long and fell neatly around her shoulders, framing her pretty face in an ocean of gold. He stared at this image of her for a long moment; she was beautiful, so very beautiful. Then a tall dark figure swept past her, she smiled such a sweet smile. Vlad then saw himself, or how she pictured him. He was tall, slim but with obvious muscle. His face was handsome and his green eyes shimmered with something close to need. _That's about right_, he thought, _I do need her_. Difference was, he wasn't going to get her. The luckier him put his hand on Helena's waist. It was just then that Vlad noticed the surroundings, it was a dull living room lit with candles on the walls. It looked a very romantic setting. Slow music was playing in the background. The dream Vlad took her hand and her waist and they began to dance. Vlad watched, wishing that he could make this real. He watched them twirl and glide, envying the dream him. Soon their dancing slowed until they just stood facing one another. There was need in Helena's eyes now, a need Vlad had never seen before. The dream him bent his head down and kissed her. As soon as their lips met the dream became warped. He felt a sleeping Helena become restless next to him but he was too into the dream to do anything. Vlad watched in horror as the dream him doubled over in great pain, the dream Helena next to him watched almost in tears. It was then that Vlad saw the cause of the pain. A dagger stuck out from his back. A new person appeared in front of Helena. He had longish black hair and bright blue eyes. His face was pale and his features perfect. Vlad stared at him for a long moment; he was definitely one of his kind. Vlad felt anger bubble up inside of him as the new boy put his arms around Helena's waist. He looked about eighteen to nineteen but Vlad knew the boy was much older than he looked. Helena was seventeen and much smaller than both the boys.

"Hello precious." He said smiling down at Helena. To Vlad's horror she smiled back up at him. _It's mind control_, he told himself firmly.

"Hello Damien," she replied, wrapping her arms around his neck. The dream Vlad's body had disintegrated to nothing. Damien kissed Helena. Vlad could feel rage bubbling to the surface, but he was helpless in this situation. Damien's lips left hers and travelled down her neck, she tilted her head sideways and sighed. Vlad saw a flash of fangs by her neck as Damien inhaled her scent. Vlad couldn't bear to watch this. He sent out a mental push toward the dream.

Helena woke with a start. She was back on the coach. They were moving. She looked out of the window. By the looks of it they were close to home. Helena looked back to see she was leaning on Vlad. She instantly pushed away, very embarrassed. "Um…I'm really sorry. Did I fall asleep on you?" She asked shyly. When he didn't reply she looked at his face. There was fear in his eyes and he looked like his was in pain. "Is something wrong?" she asked, lightly touching his arm. His fingers were gripping the arms of the seat very tightly.

"What's wrong?" She touched his cheek lightly. He flinched slightly at the touch.

"I'm fine." He said. His voice dull and he sounded upset, not usually what you expect from someone who was fine. "Are you ok?" He glanced at her neck and then into her eyes.

"I feel fine. Why?" She hadn't missed the glance at her neck. She rubbed her hand on it gingerly. There was a little stab of pain at the base of her neck but nothing big.

There was a silence between the two. "Who's Damien?" Vlad asked quickly, his green fearful eyes meeting hers.

Helena could feel her cheeks warm up with colour. "He's my boyfriend." She looked away from him, not wanting to see his reaction.

"Oh." He breathed. "Where did you meet him?"

Helena paused. She met him in her living room, she hadn't let him in and she hadn't ever met him before.

_Darling, you knew me all along, you're the one I'm meant to be with and you know I love you_, Damien's voice entered her head. _He's trying to split us up; he doesn't want me to be happy_. Well that's not very fair. Helena scowled at Vlad. She'd thought he was such a nice guy; obviously she'd misjudged him.

"Why do you care?" She snapped. Vlad was obviously taken off guard by this outburst. He stared at her in shock.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." He said guiltily. Helena suddenly felt bad for snapping; she wanted to apologize.

_He wants you to feel sorry for him_, Damien said in her mind. _Don't fall for it_. Helena looked to Vlad, the expression looked genuine. _He's a brilliant actor, don't fall for it, angel_.

The coach pulled up out school. Vlad left the coach before Helena but he waited for her outside. Helena looked at him as she descended the stairs. He was trying to make her life miserable. He was trying to upset Damien. She wasn't going to stand for it. She walked straight past Vlad, toward the end of the road.

Vlad fell into step beside her. "Would you like a lift home?" he asked. Helena didn't talk, although she regretted not bringing her bike. That was her only excuse. She would walk home. Just as she was about to reply a sleek black sports car pulled up beside them. She knew it was Damien inside, she could tell by her instincts.

"No thanks." She said smugly to Vlad, "I have a lift." Vlad looked at the car uneasily.

"Are you sure your safe getting in there?" He asked.

"Of course I am." She said sounding very disgusted that he'd even think she wasn't safe with Damien. She got in the car. Damien greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. Then they sped off back to her house.

Vlad slammed his bedroom door shut; amazingly it stayed intact. He collapsed onto his bed and began to consider his options. One, he could try convince Helena that Damien was using her. One look into Damien's mind had told him that. Two he could try drive Damien away somehow. Three he could rip Damien's head off and –.

"Now now, brother, don't you think that's a little harsh." He looked up to see his eldest brother Leo standing in the doorway. He'd been so caught up in thought he hadn't heard the door open. Leo entered the room and sat down, closely followed by his other brother Jasper and his sister Angel.

"We sensed you had girl troubles." Leo said with a wicked smile. Vlad glared at him.

"We're only trying to help." Angel said. "We don't want you to lose your soulmate."

Vlad cast an accusing look at Jasper, Jasper just shrugged and said "They were curious."

Vlad rolled his eyes.

"So this vampire, what does he want her for?" Jasper asked.

Vlad shrugged, "All I know is that his intentions are evil."

Jasper nodded and turned to face Angel. "Angel go to her house. See if he's there. If he is read his mind, find out what he's planning." Angel nodded but Jasper grabbed her arm just as she was about to leave. Then he added "And don't get caught." And with that he let her go.

Vlad got more and more nervous as time passed. Perhaps Damien had killed them both.

"Ah, she's back." Jasper said with a sigh of relief. Angel flitted into the room just at that moment, her expression grim.

"He thinks she has some weird sort of power, he's planning to do the joining process. He's up to stage two." She explained. _Stage two_! Vlad roared mentally. _The bastard, I'll kill him_! Everyone in the room looked at him, he was projecting his thoughts.

"How dare he join with my soulmate!" Vlad said aloud, Jasper and Leo caught just as he tried to get out of the room. They could hear the murderous ranting in his mind.

"Maybe stage three." Angel muttered quietly. They had to pin Vlad down to the ground to stop him breaking free. "STAGE THREE!" he roared. "He bit her!" Vlad remembered in the theme park. Of course they were up to stage three. Stage one – kiss, stage two – mind merge, stage three – give blood, stage four – joining of bodies, stage five – exchanging blood. Stage five would turn her into one of his kind. Damien was forcing this on her with mind control. If he even attempted stage four, Vlad would break every bone in his body.

"How can we stop this?" Angel asked her expression hopeless.

"Kill Damien!" Vlad growled.

"A way that _doesn't_ involve hurting anyone," Angel snapped back. Jasper and Leo pondered for a minute then looked at each other. Exchanging information telepathically.

"Vlad you'll have to convince her that you're her soulmate." Leo finally said.

"How? How the hell am I going to do that?" Vlad gawped at him. "She won't even talk to me."

"He told her you were trying to split them up." Angel explained, "Trying to split them up to make Damien's life a misery."

"Oh it'll be a misery when – "

"You have to convince her, anyway you can. We'll get Damien away from the house." Jasper interrupted. "We have to act quickly before they reach stage four."

That was all Vlad needed to hear, he pushed his brothers away and darted for the door.

Damien set Helena gently on the bed and climbed in with her, he kissed her gently. Helena wasn't in the mood for being gentle. She kissed Damien harder, he responded how she'd hoped. His kiss matched hers and he slid his hand around her waist.

The doorbell rung at that moment. Damien sighed and removed his hands.

"I'll just be a moment, angel." He said, kissing her gently on the lips then getting off the bed to answer the door.

Helena got up and went to the dressing table across the room. God she hated herself. How could such a handsome boy as Damien like a girl like her? It baffled her.

"Helena." Vlad's voice came from next to her. She glanced up to see him stood in the doorway.

"What are you doing here!?" She snarled at him. How had he got in the house? Where was Damien? "What have you done to Damien?"

"Nothing." He moved toward her. She backed away, she felt the wall behind her and backed right up against it.

Vlad took advantage of this, he leant close to her, putting and a hand against the wall one each side of her head.

"Helena, you have to listen to me." He said, his green eyes solemn, "Damien is using you, he doesn't love you."

"And how would you know?" She shouted in his face, but he didn't flinch.

"Because I can read his mind, Helena."

"Yeah, _sure_ you can." She said sarcastically.

"I'm different from you Helena, so is Damien. I swear to you I can read his mind, I can read nearly everybody's mind around me. So can Damien. He's using you to get what he wants Helena, I'm not lying to you."

Helena gazed into his eyes, there was truth and longing in them. She remembered that Damien had said he was a good actor.

"I'm not acting." Vlad said flatly. Helena's eyes widened.

"You just – just – "

"Read your mind? Yes." Vlad finished for her. "Believe me, it isn't easy to read your mind. You're projecting which makes it easier."

"Why are you telling me this? Why would you care if Damien's using me?" She sounded brave and proud but inside her head was reeling.

Vlad was just staring, his mouth opened but no sound came out. He doesn't know what to say, because he doesn't know the answer, she though grimly. This meant he didn't care he just wanted to be a hero. What had she got her hopes up for? What had she expected? She stopped there. What _had_ she expected? She'd got her hopes up but why? She must have been expecting something. She was so stupid to even think that Vlad might –

"I love you." He said. Helena glanced sharply at him. Had he just said that or did she just imagine it? His eyes burned into her. He had said it.

"I – I don't believe you!" she was trembling now. She didn't believe because she didn't know what to believe.

"It's the truth." He said, his voice still smooth.

"Well I don't believe it." Despite herself she felt her body move toward him slightly. "I'm with Damien."

"You're my soulmate." He breathed; his head leaned closer to hers.

"They – don't exist." His sweet breath on her face was making hard to think, let alone sleep.

"But they do. And you're mine." Their lips were about two inches apart now. "I need you."

Helena let out her breath which she realised she'd been holding. Vlad's lips met hers, hard and passionate. He kissed her. Helena pushed against his chest. He was much stronger then her but he got the message and pulled back to look at her. She looked into his eyes and saw pure longing and need. A silver fire burned within the green, something she'd never seen before.

"I can't do this to Damien." She whispered.

"Yes you can." Vlad lips met hers again this time with more urgency. This time she gave in and kissed back. Her fingers knotted in his hair. The kiss was becoming more wild and passionate.

She felt Vlad's mind, she touched it with her own. He was now like an open book to her and her to him. She found that he did love her, with all his heart and more. She started to venture back into his memories but his mental voice stopped her. _Please Helena, you don't want to see that_, he pleaded. Vlad didn't try venture into her memories, he was obviously happy with what he saw in the present thought.

Helena was lost in the moment; she never wanted to let go of Vlad again.

"Brother." The voice came from the doorway. Vlad ignored the voice and deepened the kiss. His arms moving to around her waist where he pulled her closer.

"Brother." The voice was more demanding. Vlad groaned and broke the kiss. The boy in the doorway looked slightly older than Vlad with sandy blonde hair and the same glittering green eyes. His face was just as handsome as Vlad's.

"Damien's escaped." He announced.

"How?" Vlad didn't seem like he wanted to know.

"He broke free, we'll catch him later." He glanced toward Helena; "I'll leave you two alone for a while." He looked back at Vlad. After a moment Vlad scowled and waved him off. _Telepathy_, Helena thought. But curiosity suddenly bit at her.

Chapter 5

The others left as soon as she left the room. Vlad stared at her for a long moment, then sighed.

"You know there can be nothing between us." The statement was so sudden and so flat that Helena's jaw dropped open. After that kiss the sharing of minds. He didn't want it?

"So do you do this a lot? Jus kiss girls, tell them you love them and then leave them hanging, is that your game?" Helena snapped. She had quite a temper. She felt the burning within her start, but didn't care.

Vlad looked stricken, his eyes filled with pain. _Good, he deserves it for playing girls that way_, but part of her still wanted to reach out and comfort him. Suddenly his face went emotionless.

"Yes, that is my game."

"Well I don't want to be included. I may not be good with boys but I know the good from the bad. I'd rather be alone than with a jerk like you." The she felt the burning rise alarmingly inside her. She gasped and stumbled backwards. Vlad caught her arm before she fell. Quickly regaining her footing she looked away from him.

"Get out of my house." She whispered.

"Helena – "

"Get out of my house!" She shrieked. Vlad hesitated, then nodded and left. She didn't move until she heard the outside door shut and even then she just broke down into tears. All that, after everything that had happened he'd just played her like the fool she was. Had they even shared minds? She doubted it. That was probably just something her mind made up. She felt something brush against her leg, something soft. She looked down to see Luna stood at her feet, her brilliant yellow eyes staring up at her.

"There's food in the kitchen" She said to the little black cat. Instead of running off to claim her food, Luna rubbed her head against Helena's leg again. "Oh fine, I'll cheer up." She sighed, picked up the cat and went to sit in the living room.

After relaxing and watching TV while stroking the cat she felt a lot better.

"We don't need him anyway, do we?" She said to Luna, the cat meowed as a response.

*** * * ***

Break-time was hectic as usual. Helena got outside as quickly as she could. As soon as she started walking across the car park towards the balcony where her friends were something hard hit her in the back of the head. It was thrown with such force that she went down to her knees. Her hand groped at the back of her head. Her fingers hit something metal, she yanked at it and it came out first time. A ten pence coin came out of her head; her fingers were covered with blood. _Oh no_, she thought as the crowd started to gather, _not one of these days again_. Someone kicked her in the ribs and she doubled over in pain.

"Come on freak, show us the fire." Someone yelled.

"Pull her hair," "Kick her face", "Steal her bag," the crowd shouted. The burning started inside her again.

Vlad walked outside, he'd have to apologize to Helena today. Yesterday he was just scared that if he finally got with her he'd hurt her. He'd acted like such a coward. She was his soulmate; they'd find a way to be together. As soon as he exited the school he could smell fresh blood in the air, his fangs slid out automatically. God, that was annoying. Everyone in the car park was running towards something. Vlad walked across to the balcony closest to him to look down on what was happening. There was a large circle, consisting of most the students in the school. There were a few in the middle, kicking at something. Perhaps a dog had wandered the wrong way or they'd found a dead squirrel. Vlad smiled at the idiocy of the young humans.

"Please stop." He heard the one voice among the many cheering ones. It was the most heartbreaking sound Vlad had ever heard. It was a sob; it was Helena's voice. Helena was the squirrel in the middle being kicked violently. Vlad leapt over the railings. It was only a short fall, he looked over at the other balcony, and Helena's friends were all stood, looking down. Their expression's grim and upset but none of them were making a move to help. Mookie spotted him, she signalled him over. He ran over to the steps and ran to Mookie.

"What's happening? Why is no one helping her?!" Vlad was desperate and furious. Mookie looked at him the usually bubbly happiness gone from her face.

"People want a few days off. She told us not to help when this happens." Mookie said solemnly.

"Why the hell not?!" Vlad spat.

"She has a –" Mookie thought for a minute then did quotation marks with her fingers and said "Disability."

"What do you mean disability?" Vlad was positively furious now.

"Watch." Mookie said and turned her attention back to the beating.

Vlad couldn't believe her friends would just stand here and watch this happen.

"Run! It's happening!" Someone screamed from the centre of the beating circle. Suddenly the whole crowd was running, everyone turning on their heel and running like the wind. Everyone including Mookie stepped back, Mookie dragged him back a step too.

Suddenly Helena screamed, as she did a wave of fire burst in a disc form her being, scorching everything around it, including other students.

Vlad stared in disbelief. Had he really just witnessed that? No, that couldn't be possible. Suddenly, all of Helena's friend took off, sprinting down the stairs towards her. She'd collapsed in a heap in the centre of the car park. Vlad followed them. He stopped dead as the smell of blood hit him hard; he covered his mouth to hide his fangs.

"She's bleeding." He commented, "a lot."

Neelofar glanced up at him, "You not like the sight of blood I take it."

"Not too fond of it, no."

"Well you stay there."

James had sunk down and was cradling Helena's head in his lap. He brushed his fingers across her hair, when he lifted them; they were covered in blood.

"I think we better call an ambulance." James said.

"No! You know she said not to do that!" Mookie cried.

"We can't let her bleed to death." James was more anxious now.

"We can't call an ambulance." Mookie stated and that was a signal for the conversation to be over.

Helena's eyes fluttered open. "No, ambulance." She struggled with the words. Her eyes locked on Vlad, widened slightly then she turned her attention back to her friends. "I'm gonna go home now."

She pulled herself slowly to her feet, picked up her bag and staggered towards where her bike was.

"What are you doing?!" Mookie yelled at the same time that James was yelling "Don't be crazy, you'll kill yourself like that."

"I'm going home. On my bike. Leave me alone." She couldn't even put proper sentences together anymore. Everyone stood frozen as they watched her straddle the bike and put her helmet on. Vlad suddenly caught a whiff of an unpleasantly familiar scent. Before he could react Damien was on the bike in front of her. She was holding on to him. They sped off.

He couldn't run after them; that would just give him away.

Helena clutched onto the boy in front of her. Her vision was fading out and she was getting weaker by the second. Damien swerved off the road and rode right into the churchyard. He stopped, got off the bike, put the stand on, lifted her down and then carried her at an inhuman speed to the side of the church. He set her down on the floor, her back leaning against the church wall. Damien then set to work rubbing his saliva into all of her wounds, which was disturbingly disgusting but she didn't have the energy to react. They sat for about ten minutes before Damien leant forward and kissed her. His hands began to wander over her body. Helena pushed him back.

"Are you crazy? We're in a church graveyard!" She protested. Damien smiled a wicked smile and kissed her again.

"We could get seen!" She protested against his lips.

He whispered in her ear, "But doesn't that make it all the more fun?"

Damien then moved back to kiss her again. She relaxed into the kiss whilst mulling that over. Damien's hands began undoing the buttons of her black blouse.

"Helena!" It was Mookie's voice, "Helena! Where are you? We know you're in here; your bike is here!"

Helena snapped out of her trance and pushed Damien's hands away from her.

She saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned and saw Vlad staring down at her. Her heart rose in her throat. She turned back to Damien, who was no longer there. It was like he'd just disappeared.

Helena turned back to Vlad. His eyes were wide. The silver fire was back in his green eyes. Realising where his eyes were looking, she glance down and saw that her shirt was open.

She squealed, and quickly yanked the two sides together.

Vlad seemed to have snapped out of it and was now looking away, giving her chance to button up again. And she did, quicker than she ever had done before.

Vlad knelt in front of her when she was done.

"Helena, I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean anything I said. I was – I – " He was struggling now. "I was scared. I got nervous and backed out. I do love you."

Helena stared at him, stunned. Then the anger swelled to the surface. "Yeah, sure. Like I haven't heard that one." She got to her feet, feeling oddly stable to say she'd just been injured. He stared at her, pain in his eyes but the rest of his expression blank. She strode to get her bike, got on and sped off.

Vlad stood, watching her speed away. Well he'd blown it with his soulmate. Why did he have to do that? Why did he have to say them horrible things? He quickly snapped himself out of it. He did it to protect her. He wasn't the best of people to be with.

"Why did you let her get away!?" Mookie snapped behind him. He gave a startled jump despite himself.

"She wanted to go home." It was a flat fact. He was sure he'd made his voice as emotionless as possible, but Mookie picked up on it.

"She's just having a rough week."

"I know." He replied and just walked away.

The next week passed without much happening. Helena was packing away the last of the equipment from face painting as the slow pitter-patter of rain started.

"Damn." Amanda sighed. "Better get this stuff to the car" They all worked at double speed to get it all packed up and ran to the car.

"Oh, I left my bag back under the marquee." Helena said.

"Do you want us to wait for you?" Amanda asked.

"No, it's fine I'll get home fine. It's not raining that bad and I can't leave my bike anyway."

"Ok, love. Just be careful."

"Will do." And with that she turned and ran, pulling the hood of her 'My chemical romance' jacket over her head. A rumble of thunder echoed through the clouds above her. When she got back to the marquee; well there wasn't a marquee anymore, someone had put it away. She cursed under her breath. She turned to leave and ran straight into a warm, rock-hard chest.

"Hey, Ella." Aiden chimed with amusement. "Left your bag."

"Aiden!" She cried throwing her arms around him. "You're back!"

"Yup, got back this morning." He put his arms around her. "Called at your house but you weren't there, had to ring around to try find where you were." He glanced at the space that the marquee had occupied. "Guess I'm too late to get my face painted then." He grinned down at her.

She gave him a playful slap in the chest; collected her bag and they both began to walk out of the park.

"You need a ride home?" She asked, glancing at him. He looked as gorgeous as always. The long black hair, styled in the emo style with the fringe covering one eye. His bright golden eyes friendly but aware as always. He was wearing his usual Slipknot hoody, baggy jeans and converse.

"No, I have a friend picking me up." Then he wrinkled his nose. His head moved closer to her as if he was sniffing her. "No offence Ella, but when was the last time you had a shower."

Helena slapped his arm.

"You smell like something died on you." Then he smiled. "I'll buy you perfume for your birthday."

Helena glared at him, but it just made him smile more. They reached her bike.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later." She said. Goodbyes were always awkward between them. Always had been. They were best friends, not easily parted.

"There's a coffee shop just up the road. My friend owns it, if you want to go there and catch up a bit." He suggested.

"Yeah sure." Easily sold. She'd missed him.

Helena awoke to find herself in the back room of the coffee shop, on a little cot in the corner that was used for guests. The strong smell of coffee hung in the air around her. She must have fallen asleep on the couch in the front of the shop last night. She was still fully dressed. Aiden wasn't anywhere to be seen. Now that she thought about it, nobody was. She threw her legs over the edge of the cot and stood up. She looked at the clock. 6:30am. Crap, she had to get to school. She located her bag that was left on the floor just below the cot. There was a note on the door.

_Ella, _

_When you leave in the morning there is a set of keys in the coffee pot on the counter next to the door. Could you lock the door on your way out and bring the keys about tonight please, sweetheart? Thanks a bunch, sorry we didn't have a comfier bed for you._

_Mrs White_

Mrs White was such a nice woman. She was old, in her fifties but she looked as young as thirty. She had thick curly brown hair and strange bright brown eyes. The kind of brown that shouldn't sparkle, but they did. She was slim and moved with elegance. Her wrinkles weren't as deep as most women her age and her teeth were perfect white.

Helena grabbed the keys, ran out into the rain. It was a lot heavier than last night. The sky was dark. The rain was beating down on everything with strong force. It was so dark she could have mistaken it to still have been night if she didn't know the time. She shivered as the first drops of rain pounded against her. She fiddled with the keys until she finally managed to lock the door. Someone, probably Aiden, had brought her bike into the car park. She lifted the seat and took out her helmet and jacket and quickly put them on. As soon as the helmet was on the visor started to steam up. It wasn't safe to ride in these conditions but she had to get to school, she didn't need another teacher escort to school. She hated that, it made her feel like a child again. She was seventeen now and living alone because her parents had left her. She had been allowed to stay in the house out of sympathy, as soon as that wore off she'd be taken to the orphanage. Hopefully they could hold it off to December fifth. When she'd be eighteen and free. Her biked tried skidded once on the slippery tarmac and then she sped away, racing to get to school.

Vlad sat in the canteen of school. He hated mornings. It was pouring down outside. It looked like nighttime. He sipped at his hot chocolate not really tasting it, just trying to mean himself look normal. He had even bothered to put on a thick jacket and scarf so no one would suspect anything. The TV was on in the top corner of canteen and he sat watching. Nothing good was on. The other small TVs in the canteen had different channels on, he'd just happened to pick the most boring TV to watch. He couldn't stop thinking about Helena, he wanted her, wanted her badly, but his circumstances just wouldn't allow that. No vampire could happily live with a human. No, he was wrong it was the other way round. Humans either got scared straight away or eventually turned against them. Either way, the human had to be killed for knowing too much. Vlad sighed and took a sip at his hot chocolate. Suddenly a commotion kicked off at the other side of the canteen. He glanced around to see that all the people were running towards one corner. He got up and raced with them, when he got there they were all looking up at the TV screen. It took him a second to register what he was seeing. He saw a crash site. A car had crashed on the road close to the school. _Wow_, he thought angrily, _that's what I rushed for? Why do they care?_ It wasn't like there wasn't a car accident reported on the nearly every day. Some humans were just careless. The newsreader came back on screen with the picture of the crash at the right side of his head.

"The driver survived and has been rushed to hospital, but the body of the motorcycle rider has not been found."

Vlad's anger drained away and was replaced by pure dread and the newsreaders next lines only confirmed his fears.

"The rider is believed to be Jezebel Fate Kandyll, also known as Helena Kells who was supposedly riding to school." The picture was an old one but it was unmistakably Helena. She had long shining blonde hair, blazing blue eyes. She was caught mid-laugh in the picture. She looked absolutely gorgeous. _Kandyll_, he repeated in his head. He'd heard that name before but he couldn't remember where. _So her name isn't Helena? _He thought. Then again, it didn't suit her. Behind him he heard an unmistakable voice saying, "God, oh god." Mookie. She was stood by a table; watching with disbelief. Neelofar was sobbing on the chair beside her. James was trying to comfort her but he looked ready to burst into tears at any moment too. Charlie was watching straight-faced. It made Vlad want to lash out at him, how dare he be so heartless. Helena had loved him.

Vlad joined them, keeping his eyes off of Charlie the whole time. Mookie threw her arms around him as soon as he reached the table.

"Oh Vlad, its Ella. She's – She's – " Mookie burst into tears. Vlad ran a comforting hand down her back. The situation was becoming all so real. Helena was really gone and no one knew where. She could really be dead.

The school day went on, people threw sympathetic glances his way as he walked the corridors to lunch. He didn't know why they bothered, him and Helena hadn't been that close. Though he'd wanted them to be, Helena hated his guts and he really couldn't blame her.

Vlad walked out the school doors and down the stairs to go join the others up top. He was followed by a chav named Jamie.

"Hey, freak!" He shouted at Vlad. Who ignore him and kept walking. "Where's your girlfriend?" Vlad flinched inwardly but didn't let anything show. Jamie continued his taunting all the way to the bottom of the stairs to the balcony. James was looking over the fence and nodded a hello at him. Vlad nodded back. Vlad's foot had only reached the first stair when Jamie, sick of being ignored, finally said, "Well whoever did kill the freak face, did us all a favour." That sentence was the one that made Vlad snap, he turned around and punched Jamie square in the face. He managed to control his strength at the last second so he didn't knock Jamie's head clean off, but it was a good hard hit, harder than most normal human teenagers would have been. Jamie had stumbled backward clutching his bleeding nose, Vlad glanced up to see that everyone up top was now looking on in amazement.

"Vlad!" Mookie screeched pointing behind him. Vlad turned back and something hard hit him in the face. With his lack of blood intake and outright surprise he was knocked off balance. He felt his fangs slide out with rage. He clamped him mouth shut and punched at Jamie again. Soon it had turned into a total brawl. Vlad was aware that a crowd had gathered. People were shouting around them. They were on the ground; Vlad had straddled Jamie and was repeatedly punching his face. He felt someone tugging at his arms; he shook them off and punched at Jamie harder.

"Vlad please, stop." It was Neelofar. He picked out the voice that was closest to him. Vlad glanced at her, her eyes showed the sadness and upset, she was reaching for him. Jamie used this to his advantage and pushed Vlad off of him and got to his feet. Vlad was on his feet first despite being pushed off. He was going to blow his cover soon. He was moving way too fast for a normal human. The green of his irises would be a lot lighter almost glowing but no one would notice that yet.

Jamie lunged at him but was caught by the arms by his friends and was being dragged backwards. Suddenly the same was happening to Vlad, he tried to pull away.

"Come on, man. I don't wanna hurt you." James said from his side. "Just give it up, you've roughed him up enough." Vlad let himself be dragged away at this point. James and Byron, who'd grabbed him, led him up top and sat him on a bench. Suddenly everyone from up top was gathered, fussing around him. He just wanted to be alone.

"What were you thinking?" James said as he examined Vlad's face for cuts. "You could've got seriously hurt. Jamie has friends. Friends with knives…and probably guns."

Vlad didn't reply, aware that his fangs were still there and he didn't have the energy to try retracting them.

Investigations had stopped. It was appalling they'd only searched for a month. Vlad sat on a bench in the graveyard. Staring over at Helena's grave. Well it was Jezebel's grave but he couldn't give up the habit of calling her Helena. How could they just leave her? Nothing could be proved without a body, but it had grown increasingly hopeless. No sightings, just nothing. It was the theory that her body had just disintegrated when the petrol tank exploded on the impact but he knew that wasn't possible. There would be bones, ash, something left that could identify that she was gone.

"Hi." The sudden intrusion made him glance up sharply, scaring the person. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She said, jumping herself.

Vlad didn't recognise her at all. She was tall, not as tall as him, but still tall and curvy. She had a model body. He skin was pale but with a warm human glow, so she wasn't one of his kind. He hair was white blonde and draped over her shoulders like a silk cloak. Her eyes were dazzling blue the seemed to change tone every few minutes.

She was wearing a black veil over one side of her face and he noticed that her outfit was completely black and smart. Funeral, he thought.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" She asked. He didn't answer, just nodded and scooted up so she could sit next to him.

"So, who are you here for?" she asked quietly. Obviously trying to be respectful. He pointed towards Helena's grave.

"Oh, was she one of your friends too?" The girl gave a little sigh.

"I didn't see you at the funeral." Vlad said.

"I wasn't there. I was told it was today." Vlad saw a tear trickle down her cheek. He instant reaction was to put his arm around her in comfort. When he finally realised what he was doing it was too late, the girl had snuggled to his side and was sobbing lightly.

"So, how did you know Helena?" He asked when she had calmed down a bit. He was feeling uncomfortable with her being so close to him. She was human and he wasn't and he was very hungry.

"She was my best friend in school before she moved here." The girl gave another sniffle then looked up at him. He looked down at her, god she looked good, even when she was upset. Vlad gave himself a mental slap, what was he _thinking_?! His soulmate had just died and here he was checking out her best friend. "How do you know her?" she asked.

"I went to school with her." He replied trying to keep focused on Helena's image, but it seemed his gaze couldn't stop sliding to the girl.

"I'm Essence by the way." She said, "Essie for short."

"I'm Vladimir. Just Vlad will do."

"Would you like to have a coffee with me tomorrow, Vlad? It might help us both through this if we're there for each other." Essie suggested.

They'd only just met and under any other circumstance Vlad would have declined but one look at those hurt blue eyes and he just couldn't help himself.

Aiden threw the covers off of him. Helena was missing. The humans had stopped looking and there was no trail he could follow. He was frustrated and upset by the whole thing. Helena had stunk of the corpse smell the day before. She'd been around a vampire. _Maybe it was the damn bloodsucker that killed her_, Aiden thought. It made him so angry he punched at the wall and left a big hole where his fist had been. There was a bang on the door. Aiden, still wearing his jeans that he'd slept in and nothing else, went to answer it. The revolting vampire smell hit him as he reached the door. Aiden got himself ready to morph at a moments notice and swung the door open on a growl.

"No, no, no, I mean you no harm." The vampire said, stumbling backwards. "Please, I mean no harm." The fact the vampire had stumbled backward gave him the impression that it was telling the truth, but you never risked that with a vampire.

"What do you want?" he growled.

"I need your help."

"Well forget it, I don't give help to parasites." Aiden swung around and stormed back into the house.

"It's about Ella!" The vampire caught his attention just before he slammed the door. Aiden turned on his heel and peered at the vampire cautiously.

"What do you know of Ella?" Rage flashed in him, "Did you kill her?!"

"No, of course not." The vampire said, "I need your help finding her."

"What do you can suck her dry yourself? No thanks, I'd rather find her myself."

"No, wolf. You don't understand." The vampire was desperate now. " I think – I think I love her. And you're the only other person I could think of to help."

Aiden was stunned, "Why me? And wait, how did you know I was friends with Helena anyway?"

"I followed you two yesterday." The vamp said, looking a little too smug for his own good. "You two are close."

Aiden studied the vamp for a minute or two and decided he wasn't that much of a threat.

"Right, guess you better come inside and explain yourself." Aiden stepped out the way to let the vampire in.

"Thank you. I'm Damien." The vampire said.

"Aiden. And don't thank me parasite, you flash your pincers and me and you won't have a head. Deal?"

"Deal."

_I can't believe I'm here_, Vlad thought as he sat in the coffee shop. Again he was cradling a cup of frothy hot chocolate that he couldn't care less about. He didn't know what possessed him to say yes to a girl he didn't even know. He'd tried to make it clear it wasn't a date. He looked down at himself and was repulsed, he looked like he'd made an effort. _A T-shirt and jeans would have done_, he told himself bitterly. Only a month after Helena's death and he was already making an effort for a girl. Even worse, a girl he hardly knew. He saw Essence enter the shop. _Dear god_, his mind shouted. She was wearing a low cut, long top that clung to her and emphasised every curve. She also wore leggings and some black high heels. Her hair was shining like a halo and her eyes were glittering. She'd made an effort too. Vlad felt his jaw drop open and quickly shut it.

She seated herself in the chair opposite him and ordered herself a mocha.

"Hi, Vlad." She smiled, an amazingly beautiful sight, "I'm glad you came."

_I'm not_, he thought to himself but said aloud "Nice you see you too."

They started discussing Helena, then the topic changed to themselves and Helena was soon forgotten.

"It's getting late." Essence stated glancing at her watch. Vlad watched all of her movements. She crossed her arms on the table, giving Vlad a good view of some cleavage. He couldn't take his eyes away.

"Yeah it is. Do you want me to walk you home?" He asked. The last bit he hadn't meant to say. He hadn't even been thinking of saying it, but it came out none the less.

"That would be nice." She smiled.

Essie shivered in the cold night air. Vlad removed his jacket and put it on her shoulders. He couldn't feel the cold that much anyway. _Right_, he thought to himself, _I walk her home, leave, and hopefully never have to see her again_. It wasn't fair on Helena. She was his soulmate he just couldn't disrespect her like this. Vlad kept his thought firmly on Helena as they walked. They walked down a dark alley between two shops. Vlad was thinking of Helena when he heard something coming behind him. This all happened in a split second. He heard the object sailing through the air behind them. He grabbed Essence and dragged her down. She lost her balance on the way down and ended up lying down with him on top of her. The bottle that had been throw at them smashed on the ground just ahead of them.

Vlad glanced behind him, still holding Essence down. Jamie was stood on the other side of the road, the obvious culprit. He glared at Vlad and walked on like nothing had happened.

"Are you alright?" Vlad asked looking back at Essence. She was looking at him with a strange expression. Then he suddenly recognised it and tried to push away but her hands caught his shoulders. He looked her in the eyes and felt everything but her melt away. She bent up and brushed her lips against his and suddenly his vision went hazy. Next thing he knew, his mouth was moving on hers.

_No, this is wrong_, his mind was protesting violently but no matter how much he tried he couldn't break apart from her. His body seemed to move with a mind of its own now. He dragged Essie up from the ground and held her against the wall while he kissed her.

She broke the kiss, he was relieved but then as she began to walk away, he had no intention of following her but again his legs just took off after her. Essie stopped outside a shop and was looking in the window her eyes scanning everything it had to offer. When Vlad finally caught up, his eyes moved to the contents of the window. A jewellery store? His eyes looked over the expensive, glittering objects.

"I like that one." She pointed to the prettiest and most expensive ring, with the biggest diamond. _Yeah. And?_ Vlad's mind said but he found himself entering the shop. His eyes locked with the old man behind the counted.

"Can I help you, son?" The man said with a wrinkly, but sweet smile.

"I want that ring." Vlad heard himself say, the voice sounded detached. His hand pointed toward the ring. The man's smile widened.

"Certainly." He went and retrieved the ring and went back behind the counter, put the ring in a box and placed it on the counter top.

"That'll be two thousand, five hundred and fifty pounds please." The man said and looked expectantly at him.

"I'll have it for free, thank you." Vlad was shocked at his own words. He couldn't have just said that.

The old man's expression was startled. "I'm sorry, son. You have to pay for it."

Vlad felt his fangs slide down and he snarled at the man. The man's kind eyes widened with horror. _No, this is very wrong, please stop_, he didn't know who he was begging to but it wasn't him doing this. Vlad leapt over the counter and sunk his fangs into the sagging flesh of the old mans neck.

When he finally stood up, the man wasn't moving but he was still breathing – barely. Vlad wiped his mouth, erased the man's memory in case he survived and picked up the ring box. Vlad was pleading on the inside, pleading for this to stop, why couldn't he control his actions? Once outside he saw himself open the ring box, remove the ring and throw the box aside. He was down on one knee before Essie.

"Essie…stop this." He struggled to get out. Her smile suddenly became wicked. She held out her hand for him. Against his will he leant forward and kissed it then slid the ring on her finger.

"I don't see how this is going to help anything." Aiden protested, slugging the backpack further onto his shoulder.

"Trust me. I think I know who's done this." Damien assured him. Damien glanced around the school grounds. It was empty and the rain was beating down again. "Now I know this won't be easy for you, but I need you to watch my back."

"Look after yourself." Aiden snorted, sounding disgusted.

"I can't question him while I'm being attacked."

"If I'd have known this job meant vamp sitting I would've stayed home." Aiden looked around now. It was really big and really empty. Suddenly Aiden saw something moving quickly out of the corner of his eye. His instinctive reaction was to drop the backpack, then he lunged at the oncoming object, knocking is against a wall and holding it there. The vampire being held there growled, snarled and snapped at him, Aiden didn't so much as flinch.

"Ah, there you are." Damien said, casually walking toward them.

"You monster!" The vampire spat at him, "You killed her! You killed her! Are you happy?! You got your wish! I'll kill you, you murdering bastard!" Aiden stared at the vamp. Wasn't it this guy who'd killed her?

Can't have been. Aiden saw an actual glisten of a tear in the vampire's eyes that he was holding. This guy was serious, he was almost crying. Aiden had seen many vampires, but this was the first one he'd seen even remotely close to tears.

"So it wasn't you?" Damien looked startled. "This wasn't a plan to get back at me?"

"Of course not!" The vampire shouted. "I loved her! She was my soulmate! – I loved her – I couldn't even convince her of that." The last part was a whisper. Aiden saw the tear leave his eye and let go of him. The vampire slid to floor and buried his head in his knees. "She's gone…"

"She's really dead, isn't she?" Damien was staring at the other vampire now, "This isn't a plot to capture me, she's really gone. It's real." Damien looked like he might have fallen over at that point too. Aiden put a strong hand underneath his elbow to keep him upright.

"That's not the worst of my problems." The vampire called Vlad muttered.

"It will be," Damien murmured still staring blankly at the ground.

Then Vlad looked up sharply. "Hide." He hissed. "Now!"

Aiden grabbed Damien's arm and dragged him beside the wall just next to the one Vlad was leaning against. They were hidden enough.

"My little puppet. There you are." It was a woman's voice. Aiden glanced around the corner. Vlad was on his feet now, looking down at the girl, there was no emotion shown on his face. Aiden's eyes moved back to the girl, she was model gorgeous. A body guys would drool over all night long, a face you could stare into for hours – the thoughts came to an abrupt halt as she touched Vlad's cheek lightly and he ran off.

He returned a very short time later with a gorgeous red mini-dress.

"Thank you." She said, but it sounded as if she was mocking him. His expression didn't change. "I'll see you later, sweetheart." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek lightly then practically skipped away. As soon as she was gone Vlad's eyes returned to normal and he let out a long breath – then he fell to the floor. Aiden ran over despite better judgement and picked up the vampire. He rested the vamp's back against he wall, propped him into a sitting position and waited for him to come around.

Vlad finally came round. He was sat in a dark empty classroom. Faintly I the distance he could hear fearful whispers. He got to his feet as soon as he was he had a head rush and almost fell back down. He flitted out of the door and down the corridors towards the sound. It was coming from the main school hall. He opened the door to find the hall full of people; all of them had small suitcases at their sides. They were all in small groups, most of them sat whispering fearfully to one another, and others stood around in corner watching them. The ones in the corners weren't human he realised. Vlad recognised Nicole, Joe, Mookie, Neelofar, James and Charlie all sat in a group. He began to walk over when he was stopped by the werewolf again. He wasn't in the mood for games and showed some fang as a warning.

"Watch it, fangy. I'm not going to be so nice next time you attack me." The werewolf warned. Vlad, completely uncaring tried to push past him but the werewolf pushed him back. "Sorry, no meals here." He said.

Vlad was angry that the wolf would even think that. "I'm going to see my friends, not find a meal!" He snapped quietly, as not to scare the humans.

"Yeah right." The wolf rolled his eyes.

Right on cue. "Vlad! Over here!" He was really growing to like Mookie's impeccable timing. Vlad couldn't help the smug smile that crept across his face. The wolf scowled at him then let him pass.

Vlad sat down next to Mookie. "What's happening?" He whispered.

"Vlad." The wolf said. Vlad hadn't noticed his presence. "Can I speak to you a minute?" The wolf's eyes scanned the group, his eyes stopped on Nicole; she stared back at him then looked away and blushed. The wolf blinked, and looked back at Vlad who was now at his side. The went outside the hall and as soon as the door shut the wolf turned to him. This time Vlad noticed what he looked like. He was just a bit shorter that himself with straight black hair styled so that the fringe covered one eye. His golden eyes looked bright, _he's eaten recently_, Vlad thought, disgusted. He wore a hoody, jeans and converse. _The type of guy Helena would like_, Vlad stopped himself on that thought, a touch of sadness and jealousy had caused it.

"Who are you?" Vlad asked him.

"Aiden. Helena's best friend." The werewolf flinched, realising what he'd said. "Anyway. It's happening."

"What happening?"

"Sacran's inhabitants are flooding out all over the world. The full scale take over."

Vlad stared at him as it sunk in.

"Why now?" he finally asked.

"Who knows but it's happening. I saved the ones Helena cared about. I can't find her parents though." His head turned sharply to look down a corridor. Vlad had heard the footsteps too. "Go back in, don't let the humans know" Aiden said then took off running full speed down the corridor.

Vampires, Werewolves, Shape-Shifters and many other creatures were running into this world. All the humans would become either hunted or slaves. Vlad shuddered. All the people in this hall, he'd have to get them to safety, if not for themselves, for Helena. She would have tried the same. Vlad re-entered the room and felt more and more self-conscious as more heads turned to watch him. He finally made his way back to the group; two new people had joined it.

"Vlad this is Jess and Joe." Mookie indicated to the two new people. The Girl was short, with brown hair and eyes. The boy was tall with long, straight brown hair and wore mostly gothic clothes.

"There's two Joe's?" Vlad asked looking between them.

"Yeah but you can just call Joe Hadley, CJ." Nicole said.

"Why CJ?"

"He has curly hair, so curly Joe, CJ."

Vlad nodded.

"So whats going on?" CJ asked. Vlad bit his lip, he couldn't tell them, but they had a right to know.

"I don't know." Vlad lied.

CJ opened his mouth for another question, but just at that moment Aiden burst back in through the doors. Quickly locking them behind him. He signalled to the others stood in the corners and they rushed off to seal off all exits, moving a little too fast.

Vlad joined Aiden at the front of the room. "Whats happening?" He hissed so the humans wouldn't hear.

"They're here." Aiden said breathlessly. "They want the humans."

Vlad glanced over all the people in the room, so many innocents. His gaze stopped on Helena's friends, he couldn't let this happen to them.

"We need to get them out of here." Vlad's gaze was still on the group he could almost call friends himself.

The werewolf surprised him by saying "I know," When Vlad looked at him he continued, "What? They're Helena's friends, she'd want them to be safe. I'm going to make sure that happens."

"Hey!" A voice called out, both Aiden and Vlad glanced out at the people. It was an older man, maybe in his forties with greying hair. He was sat with what looked like his family. "What's going on? Why can't we leave?" The whole room had gone silent. Aiden and Vlad looked at each other.

"We – " Aiden was interrupted, as there was a loud bang on the door, the whole room shuddered with the force of it. The doors were thick but wouldn't hold long.

"Everybody out! This way!" Aiden ran to the fire escape door at the left side of the hall, it was a lot thicker than the other door and might hold longer but that all depended on the speed of the humans. All the humans were on their feet quicker than Vlad had ever seen them move, they were running towards the exit. Some were screaming, others shouting for their friends or relatives. The hall cleared quickly. Vlad and the other non-humans followed after them and slammed the doors shut.

"Great we're trapped." Someone said.

"What are we going to do?!" cried another. Vlad turn away from the door her was holding only to realise they were trapped, walls rose up around them. They were in a little square surrounded by walls. The sky above them was dark; the sun was going down.

"We have to tell them," A female werewolf said to Aiden. "Then we can use our powers to get them onto the roof. Then we can escape."

"But then where do we go?" Aiden said grimly, then he turned to address the terrified crowd of humans. "Shut up, all of you!" The crowd went quiet. Only odd murmurs could be heard among the crowd. "Does anyone know anywhere with big security doors? A place that would fit you all in and maybe more?" The crowd was silent for a minute. Vlad started to lose hope until a small female human said, "The Cinema has three sets of security doors."

"Ok. Then we need to get you there." Aiden said.

"How are we supposed to get them all there alive?" Another werewolf said, grimacing.

"Get us there _alive_?!" A human shrieked, then the whole crowd erupted in terror. Aiden glared at the other wolf.

"Shut up!" He snapped. This time the crowd didn't listen. A growl ripped through the terrified shrieks and noise. The growl was a vicious one and the whole crowd went silent. Aiden was the one who had made that sound, they all stared at him in horror.

"The things we are dealing with aren't human." He said, "The are things of your superstitions and myths." They all stared at him blankly, some of them looking at him like he was crazy.

"We are dealing with vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, witches, all manner of things you believe aren't real." He continued ignoring the strange looks he was getting, "But believe me, my friends, they are very real."

The crowd was silent again, everyone looking at Aiden who looked back with defiance. "And we are the only ones on your side," He indicated to the non-humans around them.

"Your crazy!" Someone shouted. The man was at the front, facing Aiden.

Aiden smirked then his expression turned vicious. He leapt at the man, mid leap, there was a flash, and next thing there was a big, black wolf staring down into the eyes of the man he'd just pounced on, his big paws pinning the man by his shoulders and a vicious growl rumbling through him. The crowd back away; some people screamed. The man was looking up into those golden eyes with terror. Suddenly the wolf version of Aiden grunted and pushed away from him and wandered back to the front where there was another flash and Aiden appeared where the wolf had stood.

"Do you understand now?" He was talking to the crowd but his gaze remained on the man. "We aren't like you, we should be with _our_ people, taking over _your_ planet but we're not, we're protecting you so be grateful."

There was a loud crash from the other side of the door. The sound of wood splintering. That wasn't good. Then something hard hit the door behind him. He quickly pushed on the door to keep it from opening.

"Quickly!" Aiden said, "listen to my people!" to the crowd. Then he ran to the door and held it shut with Vlad. Damien joined them. Something hard hit the door again but it was held back. The werewolves started taking people onto the roof by grabbing them and leaping up. There were quite a few werewolves but there was a hell of a lot of humans. Something hit the door again this time there was a bit of give. _They're working together_, Vlad thought becoming more and more scared. He could hear jaws snapping and growls on the other side of the door.

"Hurry up!" He shouted to the others. Half the humans were now on the roof. Something hit the door again, there was still only a bit of give again.

Vlad put his back against the door and firmly planted his feet on the floor. Among the humans still left on the ground he could see Nicole and CJ still waiting to be taken up, they were near the back of the crowd. They both looked terrified. The humans were being filtered out quite quickly now. A werewolf grabbed CJ's wrist, pulled him close and leapt up to the roof. Nicole stood, still waiting.

Another hit to the door, a much more powerful one sent them stumbling slightly. The door gave a lot more. Two sets of powerful wolf jaws came through the small opening, snapping and growling. The three tried to push them back but it wasn't working, most of the humans had been taken up. "We have to run, now." Aiden said, still pushing against the door.

"But not all of them are up yet." Vlad protested.

"It doesn't matter, everyone Helena's cares about is up there. We have to make some sacrifices to save them." Aiden said.

"But – " Vlad started.

"No buts, on three we run. One." Everyone braced themselves. A werewolf grabbed Nicole's arm. Vlad felt slightly relieved and concentrated on the door. "Two." Vlad felt more weight slam against the door, but they managed to hold it somehow. "Three!" They all pushed off the door. They ran, three big, mean werewolves burst through, snarling and snapping. Aiden saw the werewolf about to jump with Nicole, drop her and leap for its own life. Vlad and Damien had already jumped up. Aiden ran to Nicole, grabbed her and leapt to the roof.

Vlad looked down, the werewolves ripped at the remaining people. He had to look away from the sight.

The other werewolves were already leading the humans away. Across the roof. Vlad looked across at Aiden, he was leading Nicole after the rest of the humans. Him and Damien followed.

Chapter 6

They all hiked down the road leading to the cinema. The streets were eerily quiet and the sun had gone down completely now. They'd lost quite a few humans getting this far, luckily Helena's friends had survived. They stayed in a group near the front, surrounded by werewolves. Vlad stayed near the back of the group guarding the other humans.

"So what are you?" A little boy who'd fallen behind the rest of the humans to walk next to him asked. Vlad hadn't even noticed. The boy only looked around eight and had a cute face.

"I'm a vampire." Vlad said. It felt so weird saying it out loud to a human after all this time.

"That's cool," the boy said. "I'm just a person." Vlad smiled at that comment.

"Your cute, kid." Vlad said, "Where are your parents?" Vlad looked at the group of humans in front looking for someone who might be related to this boy.

"They were left behind." The boy said, then he looked at him. "They're ok, right?"

Vlad felt guilty, he'd left them behind. He could have saved them. There was no use lying to the boy.

"No, kid. I don't think they are. Sorry." Vlad put a hand on the boys shoulder.

"Oh, its ok, I kind of figured that anyway." The boy said. "My name's Kyle."

"Mine's Vlad."

They walked in silence for a bit. Vlad looked around. It wasn't normal for the streets to be this quiet. Abandoned cars lay skewed across the road. The cinema was in sight ahead of them another few minutes and they'd be there. That's when things started to go wrong. The whole crowd stopped moving, then there were screams and everyone started to retreat. Vlad saw Aiden as a wolf fighting with another wolf at the side.

"Everyone run! Towards the Cinema" Vlad shouted over the screams. Come people turned to run back toward the cinema, others just carried on retreating. Vlad caught them and turned them in the right direction. Kyle stayed by Vlad's side the whole time.

"Run!" Vlad said, "To the cinema!" But Kyle stood his ground.

"I won't leave you."

Vlad felt something close to happiness but there was fear for the boy.

"Kyle you have to run, I'll be fine."

The little boy hesitated then took off running after the other humans. Vlad ran to Aiden assistance, throwing the other wolf off of him. Aiden got to his feet and charged at the other roof. Head-butting him in the stomach. The other wolf yelped and ran off.

"You ok?" Vlad asked him. Aiden nodded them changed back to his human form. They set off running as fast as they could and reached the cinema in a matter of seconds. The humans were stood outside, braying on the doors trying to get in. The cinema was dark inside but by the scents outside it no supernatural creature had tried to get in. Aiden and Vlad forced the door open together and everyone filtered in quickly. Damien and Vlad set to work shutting and locking the three layers of heavily guarded doors.

Aiden looked over the crowd. They'd lost a lot of people. Helena's group of friends were huddled together. Aiden looked through them all. Joe, CJ, Jess, Nicole, Mookie, Neelofar, James and Charlie. They were all there. Apart from that there were around seven people, most of them adults or teenagers. There was one small boy who had run over to the arcade. It wasn't on, no power was on, Aiden was amazed the little boy had seen it in this light.

He turned to address what little he had left of his pack. "Can you cover up the windows and seal off any doors leading to outside?" They nodded and set to work. The ceiling was incredibly high and the windows were small and near the ceiling but with their powers his pack managed to get up there, taking things up with them to barricade them with.

"Francis!" He called to his brother who had just jumped down to get something else to seal the windows with.

"See if you can turn on the power, get some lights in here for the humans. And if possible find a safe place to put them that's not near any door."

Francis nodded at him then set on his way.

"Everyone calm down." Aiden said to the remaining fifteen people. They looked at him. "We're safe here for now. There's food for you in here and there are couches in the lounges where you can sleep."

The humans looked relieved. But one of them spoke up. There always had to be one. "But what happens when _you_ lot want to eat." _Good question, moron_. Aiden thought bitterly.

"Me and my pack can survive on raw meat, I have been told there is a supply of that in the back. So we're sorted for food."

"But what about the vampires?" The little voice came from the arcade.

Aiden had completely forgotten that Damien and Vlad were with them.

"They um – " Aiden didn't know.

"We'll survive, we can go days without blood." Damien saved him.

"But what happens if we're in here a long time?" The same annoying human asked.

"Then we'll find elsewhere to dine." Damien said curtly, and then strode off.

"Aiden." Francis's voice came from the doorway leading to the cinema screens. "There are two lounges. Seven in one, eight in the other."

"Ok divide yourselves up." Aiden said to the humans. They pretty much was divided up already. Helena's friends in one group and the others in the other. The little boy in the arcade was the odd one out.

"Put him with Helena's friends." Vlad said, not hiding the fact that he was reading his mind.

"Stay out of my head!" Aiden snapped. "But ok."

They groups split up. Aiden, Damien, Vlad and Francis took Helena's friends to the bigger of the lounges, as they were the bigger group. The rest of Aiden's pack, which consisted of Isaac, Tyrone, Tyson, and Andrew.

Andrew was one of Aiden's closest friends, but at the moment they weren't talking. An argument over a girl had caused it and this time Aiden wasn't going to give in to the silent treatment. Helena's friends dotted themselves around the room. Nicole, Jess and CJ sat together on the black leather couch. Mookie, Neelofar, James and Charlie seated themselves on the bigger black leather couch but stayed silent, and Joe stood in the corner.

The lights blinked on above them. Everyone looked scared and incredibly tired.

"Sleep, you're safe with us." Aiden assured them, and then he turned to the two vampires and his brother. Francis also looked tired. "You too," he said to him.

"Was planning too." Francis said then moved away, morphed into his wolf form and curled up in the corner.

"You two stay with them," He said to the vampires. The vampires nodded and seated themselves on the floor propped against the wall.

"Hey, Aiden, is it?" The voice catching his attention just before he left. He turned to see Nicole looking at him.

"Yeah?" He replied, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Can I talk to you a minute?" She asked.

"Sure." He said, feeling very uncomfortable, but he didn't let it show and turned around to lean himself against the doorframe to listen.

She glanced around her then with a sort of grimace she added, "in private."

Aiden's heart skipped a beat. _Ok_, he told himself, _focus_. He heard Vlad chuckle in the corner and shot him a dirty look. "Sure. Aiden said to Nicole and held the door open for her.

Once they were in the hallway, she led him away form the lounge and out of earshot, well it was what she thought was out of earshot. He led her a bit further just to be sure. She finally turned to him. He couldn't help his eyes wander over her. He shouldn't have so much attraction to a human but here he was defying himself…yet again.

"Thank you." She said.

Aiden was taken aback, "Um, for what?"

"For saving me. I thought I was dog meat." Then she realised what she'd said, "No offence."

"None taken." Aiden looked at her for a minute. Then he had to look away to stop himself doing something stupid. _Don't get attached to a human_, _they're leverage against you_, he told himself firmly, the images of his past flooded his head but he managed to push them away before they brought him down again.

"Anything else?" he asked, still looking away.

"Can I go see my sister? She's in the other lounge." She asked.

"Yeah sure but you only get five minutes. Sorry but we can't have people wandering about." Aiden said, then before she could respond he walked away, down back towards the main room of the theatre.

"Thank you." She called after him.

"Don't mention it." He called back, waving it off without turning around. _She's human, your not_, he told himself.

_There's nothing wrong with loving a human_, Vlad's voice entered his mind.

"I thought I told you to stay out my mind, parasite!" Aiden said aloud as well as in his head.

_You're projecting_, it was a simple enough statement and Aiden didn't bother to reply to it. There was a lot wrong with falling in love with a human. After what happened to his last human lover he wasn't going to risk falling in love with a human again.

Vlad watched Nicole re-enter the room, the werewolf that he'd learnt was named Andrew followed her in. He was watching her with odd-fascination. Not hunger, something else. She turned and smiled at him. "Thank you." She said to him.

Andrew smiled back. "No problem." Then he left.

Nicole sat down on the couch and was soon asleep. The lounge was quite; the humans and Francis were sleeping.

"I'm just going for a walk." Vlad whispered to Damien who was sat skimming through a magazine. Damien nodded, not looking away from what he was reading.

Vlad god up and left the room. The lights were on in the cinema. The exits had been blocked and the windows blacked out and covered over.

Aiden was sat alone in the huge main entrance of the cinema. He was sat at a bar table, his head on the table with his hands on the back of his head.

"Tough day?" Vlad asked, as he made his way over and seated himself across from him.

Aiden nodded, his head squeaking as it moved against the table. Vlad's lips twitched with amusement.

"She likes you, you know." Vlad said.

"She does?" Aiden looked up sharply, then his cheeks flooded with colour and he slammed his head back down on the table, and then said "I mean, she does?" trying to sound uncaring.

Vlad shook his head and smiled. "Yeah, she does."

"Good for her."

"Don't be childish."

"I'm not."

"What's stopping you?"

"She's human." He lifted his head up off the table and sat back. "I've – I've vowed never to date or get involved with any human ever again."

"Why not?" Vlad asked.

"You're the mind reader." Aiden glanced at him then away again.

Vlad took that as an invitation and entered Aiden's thoughts.

The images he saw were heartbreaking. A woman, a young human woman being ripped apart by wolves. Her screaming for Aiden, but getting no response. Looking down into her cold, dead eyes. Vlad removed himself from Aiden's mind.

"That's horrible." He could hardly speak.

"Yeah well, its not happening again."

"Who did that?"

"My so-called friends." Aiden said, "Saving me from myself apparently."

"You mean – " Vlad indicated vaguely where the second lounge would be.

"No, not any of them. My old pack." Aiden shook his head, unshed tears glistened in his eyes.

"Maybe you should go get some rest, it's been a long day."

Aiden nodded, got up and left.

Vlad couldn't stop thinking about the images he'd seen in Aiden's mind, but all the time, imagining they were Helena.

A couple of days passed and humans had got used to their new living environment. The werewolves however remained restless, constantly alert and patrolling. Vlad brought in a tray of food for Helena's friends, set it on the lounge's coffee table and turned to leave.

"Aiden hates me, doesn't he?" The question caught him off guard. He turned to Nicole.

"No, of course Aiden doesn't hate you." Vlad replied.

"Yes he does. He couldn't even bear to look at me when we talked, and he hasn't even seen me since." Nicole argued.

"He's just going through a rough time," Vlad explained.

"I bet." Nicole said sarcastically. Vlad didn't want to argue the point and instead just left. His hunger pangs had started to kick in so he really didn't need the torture of being around the humans.

"Vlad!" Mookie called, "The TVs working! The news is on!"

Vlad raced back into the room, the news shouldn't be on, the TVs should be dead with no one to broadcast still alive.

_Turn the TV on_, Vlad sent the message to Aiden's mind, he was in the other lounge.

_Way ahead of you_, the thought came back.

On the screen were four figures dressed smartly in robes. Vlad recognised all of them. Theodoric, eldest of the vampire elders and up most ruler of vampire kind. On his left stood Wayne, king of the werewolves. On his right stood Mark, ruler of all the shape-shifters. And next to Mark stood Anastasia, queen of all witches. They were the highest powers of Sacran and obviously now the highest powers of earth.

"This is being broadcast all over the world." Theodoric was saying, "we are now your rulers, all of you. No human is in power, if you are useful we will keep you, if not you will be used as food. Although are willing to spare all your measly little lives if you bring us Ophelia, Chalice and Jezebel Kandyll. If they are brought to us within the next week we will show mercy and let you be part of our new society.

If not then you better start running. You have one week. We will broadcast updates everyday, three times a day." Theodoric smiled then the broadcast shut off. Everyone looked at one another and then at the Vampire's and werewolf that stood in the corner. They looked horrified.

"Helena – I mean Jezebel is dead." Mookie commented distantly.

"We can't give them what we don't have." Joe commented also.

"I say we take them her coffin." CJ said.

"No!" Nearly everyone chorused.

"But if we show that she's dead then maybe they'll go easy on us. Anyway that scary vampire guy didn't say they had to be alive." CJ continued.

"What makes you think they'll go easy on us even if they have the three girls?" Joe said dryly. "If they want them, they don't want them for a good reason."

CJ was silent for a minute, and then sighed. "Someone's going to dig her up."

"Dig up what?" Vlad said, trying to keep his voice level, but failing. "They never found a body."

"Good point." CJ said, "But the coffin has her name on it. Maybe – "

"And what does that prove?" Joe snapped, "Anyone could have made that recently and just covered it with dirt to make it look realistic."

"Look we should just forget about it." Damien said. "When the week is over, no matter what, humans are going to die or be enslaved. If they had the girls it'd be a whole lot worse on us."

"What do you mean?" Mookie said. Which was the question everyone was thinking at that moment.

"The Kandyll sisters, apart are harmless, but together and combining powers they can bring on an eternal darkness. They'll have the power to control nature. They can do basically what the hell they want and no one can stop them." Damien explained. "Vlad, the sky in Sacran, how do we know when it is night?"

"It's pitch black" Vlad replied, knowing where this was going.

"What about day?"

"The sky is red, dark red."

"That is their mother and her sisters doing. The blood that has been spilt when they last combined. They have to have a sacrifice for their powers to combine. That is why the sky in Sacran is that colour." Damien shook his head, "How could you not know that about your own home world? Sacran used to look like earth before them witches!"

Damien, disgusted, stormed off. Vlad was left staring at the spot where he'd been. Helena had caused that in his home world? She'd _been_ to his home world? Surely not. Vlad chased after Damien and caught him in the hallway.

"Damien, tell me whats happening. Please."

"They are searching for the three daughters of Charity Kandyll." Damien said, "Charity and her two sisters caused the devastation in Sacran. It's why all the trees are black, why the sky is red, why there are no humans left! There was no food left for the humans to eat and one by one the humans either died or were killed by one of us.

Charity, seventeen years ago, gave birth to triplets, Ophelia, Chalice and Jezebel. To protect them from what they could do. She brought them to earth and left them on three different families doorsteps. These families were spaced out across the world.

Charity was killed on her return to Sacran; her daughters remained a secret until now. Someone tipped off Theodoric. Now they are taking over. If the girls are found, then it's the end for us all. Under Theodoric's influence he has an unstoppable force at his fingertips. Do you understand that?"

Vlad stared at him. That was a lot to take in and very scary. Vlad nodded stiffly.

"Now if you'll excuse me." Damien said, pushing past him and leaving to go into screen three, probably to sleep.

Everyone had been stood listening Vlad realised. The people from the second lounge stood at the end of the hallway, staring at him, expressions grim. The people form his lounge, were stood in the doorway, also looking grim. Slowly, he felt his knees buckle but Aiden and Francis were at his sides instantly and kept him upright.

"It'll be ok, man." Aiden said, then he gulped and struggled with the sentence, "Helena's not around anymore, that can't happen."

"Then next Monday we're all dead anyway." Vlad whispered, with no energy left in him at all.

"Damned if we do, damned if we don't." Joe said from the doorway.

Aiden glanced at Nicole, their eyes meeting for a brief second then Aiden forced his gaze away and back to Vlad.

"Come next Monday, we'll be hunted down and killed." Francis said. Vlad nodded, so did Joe, everyone else was either in denial or too scared to admit it.

"No matter what," Aiden said, looking around at all of them. "I say we stick out this week here and see what happens."

Most of them around nodded.

"Sitting ducks." Damien's voice drifted through the open door of screen three, "we're all sitting ducks. What do you plan to do after the week, Aiden?"

"Fight. Find a way to keep them alive. Anything." Aiden replied.

There was a pause and then a sigh came from screen three followed by "sitting ducks."

Everyone eventually drifted back into their lounge and sat around or slept. No one wanted to talk, no one dared to start any conversation at all.

Tuesday Night. Everyone gathered around their lounge TVs. The last broadcast of the day begins. None of the girls have been turned in.

"This is stupid, why does he look so annoyed?" Mookie commented as they sat watching. Theo's expression did look annoyed at the fact none of the girls had turned up on his doorstep. "It's only been a day. Sheesh."

"Theo is a very impatient man." Vlad said, matter-of-factly.

Wednesday. Vlad brought the tray of food to his lounge again.

"All this junk food is bringing me out in spots." Mookie complained, picking up a handful of popcorn.

"Well then complain to the manager, not me."

"He's dead."

"Well then, stop complaining or you will be too."

Mookie chuckled, such a nice sound amongst this sadness.

Joe put the TV on for the midday update. No one had been turned in again.

"If I'm honest, I don't think they'll find these girls." Joe said, "One of them is dead and I don't think the others will turn themselves in and if they're as powerful as Damien said I don't think any human could drag them in by force."

In the main entrance Aiden was sat alone at his bar table with a bottle of vodka. Three empty bottles were on the table in front of him. His head wasn't there at all. Which was good amongst all this chaos, it was a release to just relax. He pulled his cigarette packet out of his pocket and took one out.

"Smoking is bad for you, you know." Aiden jumped and hid the cig behind his back. Nicole walked around the barrier and joined him at his table. She glanced a the empty bottles and grimaced, "So's drinking."

"Yeah, well…I'm a werewolf. It doesn't affect me." He could hear his own words slurred which didn't help his case. Smoking couldn't cause lung cancer for him or even breathing problems. Drinking still got him drunk but didn't affect his liver.

"Do you hate me, Aiden?" She asked, "I can understand if you do. I just need to know."

The question took him off guard, his eye brows pulled together in confusion then he blinked and focused on her. She was gorgeous and nice and he liked her.

"I don't hate you." He said, "What makes you think that?" His speech was slurring but he didn't care, he couldn't stop it even if he did.

"You can't even bear to look at me most of the time and when you do you glare at me." She said.

"No, no, no, you got it wrong." Aiden said, patting his head to try to clear it. "I like you, Nicole." He said, pointing at her for some reason that he himself didn't even know. "I just have had bad experiences with humans being close to me and I don't want to risk the pain again. I don't hate you."

"That's all I need to know." She said, smiled, got up and wandered away.

Andrew came over a short time later and plonked himself down in the chair Nicole had occupied; he had a beer in his hand.

"I'm sorry, man." He said, "Louisa was yours, I shouldn't have tried to take her away from you. Please can we just be friends again, I miss you."

"Sure," Aiden replied, taking another swig. They slapped hands, squeezed then let go. "So how many you had to have the balls to come apologize?" Aiden asked.

"Quite a few," Drew laughed. "But I do miss you, man."

"Missed you too, dude." Aiden said.

Drew smiled and took a gulp of his beer and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "So what you think 'bout this three sisters thing?"

"Not much really."

"But can you imagine, triplet witches? That'd be a hell of a night." Drew wiggled his eyebrows. Aiden laughed so hard he spilt his drink down himself.

"Yeah as long as they don't use eye of newt." They both laughed so hard, that it woke up a lot of the humans. They continued with their witch jokes, making each other laugh.

"Could you guys keep it down?" An annoyed Joe said form the doorway, "Some of us are trying to sleep."

"Lighten up grandpa, we're only trying to look past this shitty situation and have a good time." Drew said in between swigs.

Joe rolled his eyes and left to go back to bed.

Thursday night. Uneventful day. They listened to the late night broadcast.

"Ophelia has been turned in." A slim, curvy girl with long black hair, blue eyes and a pixie like face stood next to Theodoric. Her expression was very grim; she was handcuffed at the front and two big, scary looking vampires stood behind her. "You have three days to turn in Chalice and Jezebel. If you have on of them and you are not turning them in and we find out, you will wish you were never born." The broadcast cut out.

"They've got one." Neelofar said, stating the obvious.

"We just watched the same thing as you Neelofar," Mookie said, "We do know."

Friday. "Well two days left, and they've got one of them." Damien said. No one replied. Then sat in the lounge feeling very down.

"What are we going to do if they find us?" Charlie, who had been silent the whole time, asked.

"We'll deal with that when and if it happens." Aiden replied.

A bang in the main entrance doors made them all freeze.

"Oh my god, they're here." Nicole whispered. Andrew sat next to her put his arm around her. Aiden felt a stab of jealousy; instead of acting on it he turned to Vlad and Damien. "Damien, go get Francis and meet us in the main entrance" Vlad and Aiden moved silently to the main room with the high ceiling. The banging was getting more impatient. Francis and Damien joined them.

"What should we do?" Damien asked.

The banging was a lot more impatient, and then they heard a voice. A female voice.

"I know you're in there! Please quickly! Let me in!" The voice was quiet but frantic.

Vlad knew that voice. "Elizabeth?" he said.

"Yes you moron! Now let me in before someone sees me!" Liz snapped.

"Can she be trusted?" Aiden asked.

"Whoever said that, I will personally kick their ass when I get in there."

"Yeah, she safe." Vlad said. The four of them worked on getting the three doors unlocked and opened. Elizabeth rushed in carrying a big sack in her arms; it looked human size. The four of them shut the doors and locked them again.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Vlad asked.

"I'm here to see you." She rolled her eyes as if it was obvious. "You got a place where I can put my stuff?" She asked, glancing down.

"Um…yeah sure, I'll take it for you." Vlad said and reached for it.

"No, I'd rather do it myself." Snatching out of his reach.

"What you got in there?" Aiden asked, his eyes wide as he looked at the sack. "A dead body?"

Liz shot him a dirty look, "A girl has to plan ahead. In here are my clothes and things I can't live without."

"You can put your stuff in screen sixteen," Vlad said.

Liz smiled and walked away. Vlad noticed, Aiden, Vlad and Francis watching her leave. Their eyes glued to her behind.

He snapped his fingers to draw their attention back. "_Anyway_, that's my sister, Elizabeth."

Saturday. _One more day until our demise_, Aiden thought. Everyone was asleep, including the vampires who had found a nice room right at the back out of the way to sleep in. He couldn't sleep though; a nagging at his conscience wouldn't let him. _What if I can't get them out of here alive? What if there is no way for them to stay alive? I'll have let Helena down completely_; he put his head in his hands then banged a fist down on the table with frustration. There was still plenty of food thankfully though it wasn't healthy; luckily the humans didn't seem to mind.

Aiden picked up his beer and began to wander around the big dark room. His thoughts changed from Helena to Nicole. He remembered her talking to him, vaguely, but he still remembered it. He shook the thought away; he couldn't afford to lose focus now. They had one day and he had to think of a way to get them all out alive.

He heard a shower go on in the staff rooms. _Great, one of the vampire are up_, he thought on a grimace. Irrelevant thought, he was getting distracted too easily. He walked past the arcade; the small boy Kyle was asleep in one of the car racing game's seats. The boy had spent a lot of time in the arcade, finding amusement in it even though none of the machines were on. The poor kid's parents had been killed; Aiden swept the hair out of the small boys face and stroked his hair. The child stirred slightly, Aiden smiled to himself. He'd make sure this boy made it out alive and had a good life. He wouldn't be the screw up he always was, he would make this happen even if it killed him. A startling sound drifted into the room just as he was starting to plan. It was a voice, a female voice and she was singing. He hadn't heard anyone sing since this started, to mood just wasn't right for it and yet this singing was effortless. Placing his drink on the pinball machine next to him Aiden made his way across the room and down the hallway. He moved silently as he approached the bathroom door. He put his ear against it and listened. The voice was familiar but he couldn't put a face to it. Instead of sneaking in, because it was a girl in there; he knocked. The singing came to an abrupt halt.

"Who's in there?" He asked. He heard the water turn off and someone scrambling around inside.

"Answer me or I'm coming in." He threatened. Still there was no answer.

"I'm giving you 'til the count of five." He knew there was no other exit than the one he was currently blocking. "One. Two. Three." He paused a bit longer; there was no sound at all from the other side of the door now. "Four. Five." He finished quickly and swung the door open. It hit the wall and the bang echoed through the empty room.

That wasn't possible, there was no other way out. They had to be in here. He checked all the shower stalls, all the cubicles. He checked everywhere for a second exit. There was no one in here but there was also no other exit. _Maybe I'm just cracking up_, he said putting a hand on his head; but when he looked over at the shower it was still dripping it had been on recently. Then he saw the watery footprints leading away. He followed them from the shower cubicle into the far corner of the room, and then he followed them to the door of the staff bathroom. Now they were visible on the carpet, he broke into a run following them. They led him around the corner and ended at a close door. Screen three.

"Very funny, Elizabeth." He said opening the door. "Why didn't you answer –?" He stopped dead, remembering Elizabeth and her belongings were now in the furthest screen away. Screen eight. So who was in here? Bile rose in Aiden's throat, "Hello?" He said shakily. Silence.

He leant against the wall and looked up at the part of the room he could see from the doorway. "Hello?" He said again. Silence. He sighed and let himself slide to the floor. God, he was cracking up. There was no scent in the air, at least none that was traceable. He couldn't hear a thing. _There's no one here you numb-skull_, he thought but was relieved. Then the singing started again. He froze; the girl was on the rows of seats above him. As he listened the source of the voice began to move. Coming down the stairs, he was about to discover who it was…or be discovered.

The girl walked out in front of the stairs, clad in only a towel. He hair was dry and shimmered gold, the ends of it just skimmed her shoulders. Her skin was pale like porcelain. Aiden was frozen against the wall, what should he do? Should he sneak out or catch whoever this was? Suddenly she dropped the towel, luckily her back was to him. Aiden's eyes widened. _Wow_, he thought. Then he looked away, impolite to stare at a lady especially a naked one. He heard the rustle of fabric as she dressed. He looked back to see her pulling a black gothic skull top over her head and smoothing it when it was on. She was also wearing a frilly gothic miniskirt with chains hanging off of it, fishnet tights and a pair of big, clunky Goth boots. She slid a black bow clip into her hair and then turned to pick up the towel.

"Helena?" He said astonished. She glanced up sharply.

"Oh hello." She said, a happy but distant smile appearing on her lips. "I didn't realise anyone was in here." Then she glanced at the towel and bit her lip.

"I didn't look." He said solemnly. The smile returned to her face. Then he smiled, and rushed to her catching her in a tight embrace. She gasped at the shock of his speed but then she hugged him back.

When he finally pulled her back she looked up at him. There was something wrong with her eyes. They were still the gorgeous blue as always but they seemed distant just like her expression he noticed. It looked as if she was looking through him, not at him.

"I'm sorry, were you looking for someone? Helen was it? Because I didn't see her come through – " Helena began but Aiden silenced her with a kiss. He hadn't meant to do it. It was the relief of seeing her alive after thinking he'd lost her for so long. She was startled for a minute then relaxed into it.

He pulled back to look at her, her expression was still distant but blissful.

"Helena, you're alive. You're really here." He was almost crying with relief. Then she frowned but it was a childlike frown and her eyes remained distant as if she wasn't really there in the present.

"I think you're mistaken. My name is Jezebel, not Helena." She said, then she stepped away from him. "I'm sorry for the mix up, I hope Helena understands."

No. What's happened to her? "No, you're Helena. It's your other name. You used it when you went into hiding, remember?"

Helena laughed and shook her head, the laughter was light but Aiden could pick up that it also sounded broken. "I'm sorry, you have the wrong girl."

"Helena – I mean Jezebel. I've been your friend since you were ten. That's seven years. I know you. Something happened – " He tried to explain, it wasn't getting through. She just looked on at him with that distant smile.

"Aiden, what are you – ?" A sleepy looking Mookie pushed the door open rubbing her eyes. It only took a second to see. "Helena!" She cried, sprinting and almost knocking Jezebel flying. "Oh my god, I thought you were dead!"

"I'm not Helena." Jezebel patted the smaller girl's head. "I'm sorry. It's a mix up."

"Yes you are!" Mookie looked shocked, then she slapped Jezebel's arm. "I think I know my best friend!"

"Something's happened. She doesn't remember anything." Aiden said grimly to Mookie. "We should wake the others."

"Wake up!" Mookie cried, hitting Vlad over the head with the magazine he'd been reading before he fell asleep. Vlad rolled away groaning.

"Helena's here!" Mookie shouted louder, smacking him repeatedly.

"She's dead, Mookie." He muttered then rolled on his side to try get back to sleep. Mookie hit him again.

"Come see then!" She was angry now. Vlad groaned again and got up from his less than comfortable makeshift bed. He'd just pulled up the arms of the cinema seats and lay across them. He wore jeans on his bottom half and nothing on his top half. He didn't bother to put his shirt on, knowing he'd be back here soon to sleep.

Mookie led him out of the door and through to the main entrance room. Everyone was gathered around a table chatting wildly at someone.

They made their way over and pushed through the crowd, everyone had gone quiet as he approached, watching him.

Then he caught the first glimmer of blonde hair. Then her face came into view, Vlad's insides seemed to melt and relief and joy washed over him. Helena got up to greet him with a handshake, but he pulled her forward into a hug and then kissed her hard. He didn't care that everyone was watching, but he did have to break the kiss eventually. After that he pulled her into a tight hug and then released her – well he held her shoulders at arms length.

"Wow, you guys really like kissing around here." She said in a light wistful tone, blushing slightly. Vlad frowned, what was that supposed to mean?

Aiden cleared his throat, drawing attention his way. "Something happened to her. She's not – " Aiden searched for a word, finding one he promptly added, "herself, anymore."

The last comment quickly forgotten Vlad looked over Helena, she was wearing usual Goth things. But then he noticed the eyes, the expression.

She looked distant and detached from what was going on, but oddly she could still have rational thought and could respond to things that were happening around her.

"Helena?" Vlad asked cautiously.

"My name is Jezebel." She said it in a calm strange way. The way a creepy child would talk in a horror movie. "Not Helena."

"Oh." Vlad getting what Aiden meant. "What are we going to do?"

"I guess we'll have to convince her and explain things to her." Aiden replied, watching Helena closely.

"We're going to have to talk with you Helena." Vlad said to her, he'd only repeated it because she was looking away from him with that distant expression but she was smiling slightly. Her eyes moved to make it look like she was looking at him, he knew she wasn't, he could tell.

"She prefers it if you call her Jezebel." Aiden said. Then sat down next to Jezebel. Vlad seated himself on the other side of her.

Soon everyone had pulled up a chair and was seated around Jezebel.

Chapter 7

"I say we turn her in, spare our lives." The old male human banged his fist down on the countertop. There were murmurs of agreement among the humans that weren't Jezebel's friends.

"Are you mad?" Vlad exploded, "We aren't turning her in!"

"Why not? Because you said so?" The older man was right up in Vlad's face now. "We don't listen to freaks! I have a family! I'm not risking them just so you can keep your evil little girlfriend!"

Aiden stepped forward out of the crowd who were silently backing Vlad. "She is not evil," He snarled, his eyes glowing golden.

"Your little mind games don't fool me." The man retorted, waving off Aiden. Aiden growled, a deep animal growl. The man didn't even look surprised. Aiden stepped toward him angrily, then man whipped out a knife instantly, holding it at Aiden who stopped, stunned.

"How did she get in here anyway?" The man directed the question at Vlad.

"She – " Vlad frowned. That was a very good question. Everyone's eyes turned to Jezebel who was sat smiling into space. "Jezebel." He called. Her gaze met his, he felt his insides melt as she looked at him but there wasn't time to enjoy that. "How did you find us? How did you get in here?"

"I woke up over there." She pointed where the arcade was; "I had my things with me."

"It's a trap," Damien sighed. Everyone jumped. No one had noticed him. He was sat at the back table in the bar area. "_She's_ a trap."

"That's why we have to turn her in." The man said. Every one of Jezebel's friends glared at him, well all except CJ.

"I think he's right." CJ said, "We should turn her in. Save ourselves."

"You won't be saving anyone." Vlad hissed.

"You're only saying that because you don't want to lose her." CJ replied, going to stand next to he man holding the knife, giving him a reassuring nod that he was on his side. "If we give her in, we can get off Scott-free. Think about it." The humans wanting to turn her on nodded and murmured in agreement. Jess joined CJ and took his hand.

"He's right." She said, "We turn her in and this all goes away."

"You're crazy!" Nicole cried, storming to the front, pushing Aiden and Vlad aside, getting right up in their face – well as far as the knife would allow. "You heard what Damien described, that's going to happen here if we give her in!"

"But that scary vampire said that anyone who turned in one of the girls they'll show mercy on them." CJ replied, looking oh-so-smug "They'll welcome you into the new society."

"_Their_ society!" Aiden was on the brink of snapping, "You'll be used as a slave, as entertainment, as _food_!"

"Better than being dead." The man with the knife said, "There's more of us, majority vote that we turn her in."

"We are not turning her in!" Vlad lunged forward, but Aiden dragged him back before he could hurt anyone.

"Turning me in where?" The sweet voice drifted over to them. Jezebel was sat looking at them all now with confusion.

The man with the knife turned on her, Aiden had to work twice as hard to hold Vlad back. "Because of you we're stuck here!" He yelled at her, she didn't flinch backward, in fact her facial expression didn't change, it was simply emotionless with those wide, distant blue eyes.

"If we pass you over to the vampires then we can be safe and happy!" He was approaching her now, the knife held in front of him, Jezebel didn't even try back away. "So come with us willingly, it'll be a lot easier on you!" The knife was close to her now. Aiden and Vlad were frozen, as was everyone else in the room.

Jezebel's eyes glanced at the knife and then back at the man's sweaty, snarling face and said calmly. "I don't like being threatened."

"Well then come willingly!" He snarled. He took a step closer, the knife close to her stomach. Then something astounding happened. The air around Jezebel seemed to shimmer with some sort of electrical charge, then just as he'd seen with the fire in the car park, a disc of pure energy burst out around her, knocking the man onto his back.

"I said I don't like being threatened." She said looking down at him with those strange distant eyes. "I was planning to come willingly."

"No!" Jezebel's friends chorused, "Please don't Jezebel." Aiden added on the end. She cast him a sweet distant smile and hopped down from the counter.

"You people are my friends, well from what you've all told me." She said taking Aiden's hands in hers. Aiden felt Vlad's icy gaze boring into him. "I want to help everyway I can, and if it means leaving and being handed over to vampires then I'm okay with that." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek lightly. Then she let go and walked over to the people who wanted to turn her in. Aiden glanced at Vlad who gave him one more ice-cold glare then went, picked up Jezebel and carried her away. There were protests from the opposing group and some ran after him. Aiden glanced at Nicole, who was now in the arms of Andrew. He was whispering something to her and she was nodding. He felt rage that his best friend had done this again, but right now things had to be done, he'd deal with it later. Just as he was about to turn away he saw Andrew bend his head down and kiss Nicole. Aiden morphed and ran full pelt at his so-called best friend. Someone grabbed the scruff of his neck before he even got half way there and he was being dragged backward. He turned back and looked up at who was dragging him. Damien. "Hey! What are you doing?!" He struggled against Damien but Damien's hold on him was just too strong.

"I'm stopping you doing something stupid." Damien said without looking down at him. "That boy is your best friend. He didn't know you liked the girl and you did say you would never get involved with a human again as long as you lived."

Aiden sagged against the truth. "Thanks." Aiden muttered, it was sincere but he was still annoyed that he hadn't got to smash Andrew's face in.

Sunday morning. Well at least that's what his watch said. Aiden sat up on the uncomfortable floor he'd slept on. There was a commotion outside. It was happening in the main entrance he guessed. He heard Vlad's voice shout above the rest but he couldn't make out what he was saying. All he could tell was that he was angry – very angry.

Making his way into the main entrance, pulling his shirt on he saw the "bad side" – the Jezebel hating side – all shouting at Vlad who was holding the older man by the throat, snarling and showing fang. From what he'd learnt about the vamp recently, Vlad wasn't the kind to do that just for fun, he was genuinely furious.

"Where is she!?" Vlad demanded, shaking the man.

"I – don't know." The man choked out. "I haven't – seen her."

"Liar!" Vlad threw the man to the ground. Aiden ran over, grabbing arms and holding them firmly behind his back.

"Chill out." Aiden said, trying to restrain him.

"They turned her in!"

"How?" The man asked, still rubbing his throat. "Look at the doors! How would we get out of them? Especially without you hearing us! Think about it, freak!"

"They're right." Aiden said to Vlad. Vlad's struggling slowed, and then stopped altogether but Aiden didn't think it safe to let go of him just yet.

"What's going on in here?" Jezebel asked for the doorway.

"Jez?" Vlad flitted over and hugged her. "God I thought I'd lost you to them for a minute then." Then without even so much as apologizing to the humans he led her away. "Aiden! Its time for the final broadcast."

"I'll put the big TVs on in here!" Aiden called back, "Get everyone in here." There were a number of televisions suspended in a circle from the roof. Aiden finally managed to turn them on, it was just static at the moment.

Vlad wandered back in, his arm around Jezebel protectively – also possessively. He was followed by everyone else. As soon as they were in the room, Jezebel broke away from Vlad and wandered over to him. Aiden looked down into her eyes for a minute, they hadn't changed, they were still distant but happy. She had that precious smile on her lips again, the one that would melt anyone's heart. He could feel eyes on them, he could mostly feel Vlad's.

_Don't do anything that you might regret later_, Vlad's voice was in his mind, it was full of menace, _trust me I won't regret what happens to you if you do_. Aiden's eyes widened, he'd began to consider this vamp his friend lately, but then again he loved Jezebel with his whole heart and soul. Aiden wasn't planning on doing anything besides asking why she was staring at him. Her arms wrapped around his neck. _Crap_. _Crap, crap, crap_. She pulled his head down and kissed him, not just a light peck either, a full on kiss. Aiden held up his hands and tried to pull away but she was stronger than he thought. He could practically feel Vlad's rage from where he was standing. Aiden took hold of Jezebel's shoulders and tried to push her back gently but she was _a lot_ stronger than he thought. She resisted him with ease. She finally answered his pleads and pulled back, smirked at him, winked then moved to stand alone staring up at the TV. Aiden dared a glance at Vlad, which wasn't a wise move. Vlad's eyes were now the luminous green that only happened when he was in total vampire mode. Vlad was glaring at him, rage burning in his eyes. He shook his head at Aiden and forced himself to look up at the TV as the broadcast started. Aiden sighed and turned his attention that way also. She'd done it on purpose! He could see it, her eyes weren't distant when he'd looked at her, now as he glanced her way they were back to the innocent and distant look.

A very smug looking Theodoric appeared on the screen. "You have done well. You pulled it together on the last day."

"What's he talking about?" Mookie said with confusion. She was shushed as Theo continued.

"Humans, I give you your saviours but also your worst nightmare." He stepped aside and the camera moved to a cage. Three girls were inside it, each one handcuffed and gagged. The first one to be caught, Ophelia, the curvy, black haired, pixie-like one, was up against the bars of the cage, crying and trying to say something around the gag to the camera it sounded like "help me." But there was no way to be sure. Another girl, had crimson hair with black streaks in. She was also slim and curvy. She was wearing gothic clothes. Her make-up had run. She was screaming furiously against the gag and kicking wildly at the bars with her big Goth shoes. Lastly the camera turned to the side of the cage and the third girl came into view. She had short blonde hair, her Goth make up had a lot run making big tearful streaks down her face. She was also wearing Goth clothing but was wearing big scary boots. She wasn't putting them to use at all. She was just sat silently in the corner of the cage. She looked straight at the camera, her blue eyes blazed for a second there was a cry and the camera went out of focus and there was a crashing sound. Then there was static for a minute.

"That was Helena." Mookie commented distantly. Then everyone turned to the girl they had thought was Helena (Jezebel) The girl looked around at them all with a smirk then she began to glow and there was movement behind the light. Suddenly a completely different girl was stood before them.

Vlad cowered away. Essence stood looking at them all. "I really had you fooled, didn't I?" Then she laughed. She was a shapeshifter.

"How did you get in here?" Aiden demanded.

"Easily." She said with a mocking smile. "There is another door you haven't blocked."

"Impossible, we checked everywhere."

"Well I've been going in and out of here as I please."

"Get out!" Mookie demanded.

"Why don't you make me, bone bag?" Essence bent over patronizingly as if she was talking to a child. Mookie slapped her hard across the face. The sound of the impact echoed around the big room. Essence was shocked and stumbled backward clutching her cheek. Then the shock faded from her face.

"Shit." Mookie breathed as Essence locked a lethal glare on her. Essence ran at Mookie, Mookie began to run away. There was no way she was faster than a shapeshifter.

Luckily she didn't need to be. Something intercepted Essence, mid-sprint. It was too fast for even Aiden to see what it was. When it landed he saw that is was the popcorn machine. Elizabeth was stood by the counter where the machine had been. Her face was full of concentration, her eyes flaring. She stalked over to where Essence was still laying. Essence scrambled to her feet, panting. There was a gash on her cheek and it looked like she had one on her side too. She went for Elizabeth, but Liz booted her away, making her gasp for breath in the process. Essence doubled over, gasping and panting. Elizabeth grabbed a handful of her hair and dragged her to her feet.

"Unless you want me to rip your scrawny little neck out and spread your insides all over this floor, I suggest you get out right now." Elizabeth hissed in her ear, "Got that, Blondie?" Essence nodded painfully against her grip. Liz let go of the hair, still ready to pounce on her if she tried anything. Essence didn't try anything, she ran, clutching the back of her head and sobbing, to where the exit was they supposed.

Everyone stared at Elizabeth, "What?" She said when it stayed silent. "She was a spoiled bitch who needed to be put in her place." Suddenly there was a big flash behind them all.

Helena – well now she was known mostly as Jezebel – so she might as well start calling herself it again, it was her name after all. Jezebel stared at her sisters. Chalice had collapsed onto her back, her feet still up on the bars, she was breathing heavy and there were little beads of moisture on her face. Ophelia was sat in the other corner with her eyes shut and her head leaning against the bars. Jezebel reached out her hands and patted Ophelia's knee comfortingly. Ophelia opened her eyes, and then smiled. Well at least it looked like a smile, wasn't entirely sure for the gag.

The big metals doors opposite the cage opened, Theodoric, Mark, Wayne and Anastasia entered. They all looked extremely proud of themselves, except Wayne. Wayne had a solemn expression, he was also wearing a fake smile but the other 'royalty' (yeah right) hadn't seemed to notice.

They were followed by two personal guards of their own kind each.

"Remove the gags." Theo ordered, his two vampire men nodded and went forward reaching between the cage bars and removing each gag. Hers and Ophelia's were taken off first. Ophelia rubbed the sides of her mouth where the gag had cut into them and made them red and sore. It took two to remove Chalice's gag. She bit one of their hands as soon as it was taken off. The vampire yelped in pain and retreated backward. Chalice smiled – what Jezebel had come to realise was – her crazy smile.

"Can we go now?" She said, sounding bored.

"You should really learn some manners, young lady." Anastasia looked appalled.

"Manners are for idiots and goody-two-shoes" Chalice rolled her eyes and yawned, "Besides, I didn't know you had to use manners with mass murders."

Theo growled and was suddenly at the bars of the cage in front of Chalice. She gasped and tried to pull herself away but Theo grabbed the front of her shirt before she could and dragged her right up face to face with him. "If you want to live after your purpose has been served. I suggest you start being a little nicer." He let go of her shirt and stood up slowly, returning to his place among the others.

"Shall we take them outside?" Anastasia asked Theo.

"You still taking orders from him." Jezebel looked at Chalice, who was seriously pushing her luck. But it wasn't Chalice who had spoken; it was Ophelia. "You're a witch queen, you don't bow down to him." Ophelia continued, despite the hostile gazes she was getting from Theo and Mark.

Wayne looked indifferent, but Anastasia seemed to be listening. Theo glanced her way and Anastasia's face quickly hardened.

"No I don't bow down to anybody." She said. Jezebel began to think she was on their side, that was until she said, "Theo just gets things done faster and how dare you speak to me that way." Anastasia glared at Ophelia but there was something in her face that showed she didn't really mean it, however much she wanted to. Theo didn't notice and was pleased at Anastasia's reaction.

"Yes we will take them outside." Theo said. "They can create a portal to the cinema."

Mark looked at Theo strangely. "Why a cinema?" He asked, "Surely this should happen somewhere magnificent like the coliseum in Rome or something."

"I would like Jezebel's insolent friends to be there to witness it and because we can't bring them here, we shall take this to them." Theo replied. Mark smirked. Anastasia smiled but Wayne only half smiled but again no one was paying attention to him.

"No!" Jezebel shrieked.

Theo just smiled wider. Then the four exited the room. Jezebel began to cry, watching them go. This couldn't happen! Wayne stopped in the doorway. He locked gazes with her for a moment. Only a moment, but it seemed like a lifetime. Then he turned back and left, his men shutting and locking the door. As soon as it was shut her sisters crawled over and both of them hugged her.

"Shh, its okay." Ophelia said comfortingly. "They'll be okay."

"They can't make us do anything we don't want to do." Chalice assured her quietly. "We aren't as weak and helpless as our mother and aunts will have been back then."

Jezebel eventually stopped crying, it had slowed down to little infrequent sniffles.

"Ain't it weird." Chalice said, looking at her and Ophelia. "We're sisters who haven't met until now but strangely we know everything about each other. We love each other instantly."

"We're witch sisters, that's the strongest sister bond that has ever existed." Ophelia said, taking one of Chalice's hands and one of Jezebel's and squeezing them comfortingly. After a long moment they all felt calmer.

"Right. We have to get out of this cage." Chalice whispered.

"How? This stops us using any powers." Jezebel said unhappily.

"Well its not that powerful, you managed to get that camera man with a blast of energy. If we can all work together, we can probably bust that lock, get out and use a portal to get to your friends and take them somewhere safe." Chalice said a smile now on her face.

Ophelia smile too, so did Jezebel.

"Ok, now concentrate on the lock and we want it to open." Chalice whispered. They all joined hands and closed their eyes. Jezebel reached out with her mind, she located the lock where she knew it was and concentrated on it unlocking.

"Now!" Ophelia said. Jezebel instinctively knew what it meant and gave a push of power towards the lock; she felt Chalice and Ophelia do the same. It felt very powerful. Instead of just unlocking the big heavy padlock exploded into tiny little pieces.

The all stared at it.

"Maybe we should be a bit more careful next time." Chalice commented then said, "We better get out, someone will have heard that."

"Jezebel is the only who knows where we're going." Ophelia said.

"Okay, Jez, concentrate on the place we're going. Picture it and imagine a doorway to get there and imagine stepping through it." Chalice said taking her hand. Ophelia took her other one then Ophelia and Chalice joined hands too.

"But – I've never used a portal before!" Jezebel said, now she was scared, what if something went wrong, what if she couldn't do it.

"Neither have i." Chalice said. "This isn't so much a portal, more group transportation but your opening a portal to the place. Come on, try, for us."

Jezebel was about to protest when she heard something outside the door.

"Hurry." Chalice mouthed desperately.

Sighing Jezebel closed her eyes and tried to picture inside the cinema, it was hard but eventually she managed to imagine it completely. _Now imagine a doorway to it_, she remembered Chalice saying. She imagined a door right in front of her; all she had to do was step through. She felt herself falling forward into it; not just in her mind, she felt it physically too. She was scared as she began hurtling downward. The image of the cinema wasn't there anymore; she was falling into darkness. Just falling. She felt the wind rushing past her face. She opened her eyes, darkness, she was still falling, and Chalice and Ophelia were still holding hands with each other and her, they were falling too. A blinding light opened up beneath them. They fell right through it. Jezebel hit something hard beneath her, hopefully the ground. She landed on her stomach, winding herself. Chalice and Ophelia landed right next to her. Ophelia had winded herself too. Chalice however had landed on her back and chocked out a cough.

"Ow, hopefully that'll go better next time." She said, sitting up and rubbing her back. Ophelia and Jezebel were getting their breath back now. They sat up too, clutching their stomachs.

"Yeah." Ophelia and Jezebel gasped. "Hopefully."

They looked up for the first time to realise they'd landed in the centre of a big room. The main room used in a cinema for buying tickets, food and even going on an arcade. There was a crowd who were stood, simply staring at them.

"Um…Hi." Chalice said, "Just thought we'd drop in, hope you don't' mind." She gave a little half-hearted smile and wave and stood up, brushing herself off.

"That was a bad joke." Jezebel commented, following her lead and standing up and brushing off. Ophelia did too.

"Hey, that's my specialty." Chalice cast her a crazy smile.

"I do the bad jokes around here." The voice came from the crowd. Joe. It was Joe, Jezebel recognised his voice. Chalice took it as a challenge.

"Oh well, we'll see buddy. We'll see." She pointed at him challengingly.

After an awkward moment, Jezebel's friends all rushed for her, talking in babble, everyone squeezing forward to hug her.

Ophelia and Chalice stood out at the side watching. "Oh, we feel so loved." Chalice said sarcastically. Jezebel saw Mookie turn to her and hug her.

"Aww thanks, shorty." Chalice patted her head.

"I'm not short!" Mookie protested, "I'm small boned!"

Chalice smile. "Yeah sure."

When the fuss had died down a bit, Jezebel managed to slip to the side next to her sisters.

"Well, anyway, everyone these are my sisters, Ophelia," Jezebel put a hand on Ophelia's shoulder; she waved politely at the surrounding people.

"Hi Ophelia." They all said.

"God, it's not an alcoholics anonymous meeting." Chalice rolled her eyes at the dull tone the crowd seemed to have.

"And this," Jezebel smiled putting her hand on Chalice's shoulder, "Is Chalice, my crazier sister."

"Crazy is an understatement." Ophelia muttered.

Chalice shot her a dirty look then looked back at Jezebel's friends.

"I better get a better greeting." She warned.

"Yo! Chalice! S'up girl!" The voice came from the back. It sounded like Aiden but Jez wasn't sure. It didn't matter, everyone burst into laughter, including Chalice and Ophelia.

Jezebel moved over to where her friends stood and introduced each of them.

Everyone settled in, the people Jezebel didn't know disappeared out the door into where the cinema screens were. Her friends were stood around talking to her sisters. She sighed with happiness; she never thought she'd see them again.

"I missed you so much." Vlad said. He was behind her. She turned and threw herself into his arms.

Vlad had to step back at the shock of this. She had actually hugged him, practically leapt at him. Last time they'd talked she had hated him. Then to his dismay she seemed to remember herself and pulled back. She blushed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean – I mean I've had a rough time and I'm just so glad to see you all – sorry." She was rambling, and he liked it. It was good to hear her voice again and to see her so full of life.

"It doesn't matter, don't be sorry." Then he paused thinking of how to put the second part, "I – um – I really missed you."

"Yeah." Awkward moment. "You should go see my sisters, I'm sure they'd want to meet you."

Vlad nodded and wandered away.

Aiden stared on at Nicole and Andrew, feeling something between envy and sadness, maybe a mixture. She seemed so happy. He was playfully nuzzling her neck. Andrew was facing him and Nicole's back was to him. Andrew glanced up, instantly spotting Aiden looking at him. Aiden managed what he thought was a smile, obviously not. Andrew stopped nuzzling Nicole's neck and pulled her close into a hug. Obviously so she couldn't see Aiden, she practically moulded herself against him, relaxing.

Andrew jerked his head up slightly with a frown, only a small movement that meant, "What's up?" Aiden just shrugged. Andrew scowled at him a moment, then understanding came to his eyes. He looked down at the top of Nicole's head, stroking it gently with one hand, just so she didn't get suspicious. He jerked his head down towards her, meaning, "You like her?" Aiden managed a wry smile, shook his head and mouthed, "She's yours." Then he turned, not wanting to carry on this conversation. Nicole obviously liked Andrew more and he wouldn't want Andrew giving her up or feeling guilty. Then he spotted Jezebel stood on her own. He rushed over and hugged her. So much like the last time with the fake Jezebel. This time he was sure it was she. He wanted to kiss her so badly, but he'd made that mistake once. Vlad had got annoyed and it had made him feel guilty. It was a bit disappointing that after all these years he still hadn't got a chance to kiss her. He used to have such a big crush on her. Over the years it had become very obvious she wasn't interested.

_Oh she's interested_, the intrusion in his mind again. God it was annoying, but it wasn't just the words that startled him, it was the speaker. Vlad was saying this to him and he didn't sound angry. _She's loved you since the moment you met, she's always thought you were too good for her. She thinks that about most boys, she doesn't think much of herself_. Aiden didn't understand why Vlad was telling him this, shouldn't he be telling him he had no chance? To just back off and leave her alone?

_She isn't mine, I can't read her mind exactly, but I know how she's feeling. She's feeling loved_, Vlad continued_, I don't have a chance compared to you, so take your chance if you want, and you already lost Nicole_. Aiden glanced over at Vlad; he had his back to them.

_Get it over with quickly please_, Even Vlad's mental voice sounded hurt. He saw Vlad's shoulders shudder slightly, like a sob.

"Aiden? Are you ok?" Jezebel was looking at him with concern.

"What?" He said turning back to her, "Oh yeah, I'm fine." He glanced at Vlad again; his back was still to them. "Hey can I talk to you, out there a minute?" Aiden indicated at the hallway leading to the screens. He was taking to Jezebel but watching Vlad.

"Sure." Jezebel said. Aiden saw Vlad's head drop in defeat. Aiden led Jezebel passed the crowd and into the deserted hallway.

"What do you think of Vlad?" He asked when they were there.

"He's cool, why?" she looked confused.

"No honestly."

"He cool; a really nice guy."

"What about looks?"

She just blushed.

"Thought so," Aiden smiled slightly, "Look, he really likes you, Jez. But honestly I think he's scared of admitting it, in case you don't like him. I'm not telling you to date him, but give the guy a chance."

Jezebel was stunned, "Why are you telling me this?"

"He's been really upset and depressed since you apparently died and has been helping me try save your friends just for you, he really loves you, Jez, really, really loves you."

Jezebel blushed again. He smiled at her. "Ok." Was all she said. Then after a few moments silence, she asked, "Shall we go back in now?"

"No, just one more thing." He said, then he pushed her back gently against the wall, leant his hands on the wall on either side of the wall and kissed her. She pushed him back a bit.

"What are you doing?" It wasn't a request to stop; it was simply a question.

"I want my piece of you before I give you away," he grinned, his Aiden grin then kissed her again. This time she didn't stop him, instead she wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers knotting in his hair. His arms went around her waist and he pulled her right up against him. The kiss went on and on. Neither wanted to stop, Aiden was the one who broke the kiss first but then leant his forehead against hers, both of them were breathing heavily. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this." He said with a smile. Then to his surprise she responded, "Me too." That made him so happy he kissed her again.

"Jez!" Chalice called from the other room, "Get your butt in here!"

Jezebel sighed and pulled away.

In the other room everyone was stood nervously in a disorganised circle around Chalice and Ophelia. Jezebel joined them in the centre and Aiden joined the circle. The three girls joined hands. Obviously Chalice and Ophelia had been giving instructions because as soon as they did, the circle all joined hands. Nicole put her left hand on Chalice's shoulder and the person on Nicole's left put their hand on her shoulder to make up for the loss. Everyone was connected now; all that was left now was the use the portal. Jezebel glanced expectantly at Chalice and Ophelia, who looked uncertain.

"Where should we go?" Ophelia asked. "Where's safe?"

"Nowhere is safe," Damien said from the back.

"But there is one place where the danger is limited for the moment." Chalice had that smile on her face again. Why doesn't she just wear it constantly, it fits her personality and crazy ideas. Despite that everyone closed their eyes, Ophelia and Jezebel willed their power to Chalice. Then the floor fell away again. The sounds of screams echoed as the darkness rushed past them.

Ophelia, Chalice and Jezebel landed on their feet this time. The rest of the crowd fell on impact. Well, all except Elizabeth. Who stood tall at the back. "I use them a lot." She admitted when Chalice gave her a sly look. Chalice nodded with a smile. All the humans and Ophelia and Jezebel gawked at the scene around them. The sky was a deep, blood red, with a black orb in the sky that should have been the sun. The scene around them was like a small village – a small deserted village. All the houses looked unoccupied, the shops were all closed. Along all the street there was an entrance to a forest at the end. The village was surrounded by forest. The trees were all leaning and looked jagged. The leaves where black and looked wilted yet the tree still looked healthy. Glancing around a big building – well not the usual city big, but bigger than the others – was a hospital.

"Where are we?" Someone gasped, it was hard to pick out of all the gasping and little whispered disbelieving statements.

"Welcome to Sacran." Aiden said sarcastically with a grimace, "Pretty, ain't she."

"Enough talking," Chalice said, looking very alert. "You who've been here before, is there anywhere we could take these people?"

The werewolves and vampires stood around looked at each other then back at Chalice, as if she was nuts. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"I do." She said, "Follow me." She walked down the street toward the forest.

"We're not going in there." The really annoying man said.

"Well you stay here then." Elizabeth snapped, "Anyone wanting safety, come with me."

"And anyone who's not a lunatic, stay with me." The man said. "If we carry on walking with them three we'll all be killed." He pointed at the three sisters.

Ophelia, Chalice and Jezebel stood by Elizabeth, as did Vlad, Aiden and his pack. Slowly they were joined by Joe, Nicole, Kyle (the small boy) Mookie and Neelofar.

CJ, Jess and Charlie stayed with the others.

"Charlie, come on, please, CJ, Jess?" Jezebel looked pleading.

"He's right." CJ said. "As long as we're with you three, we have a higher probability of death." He was obviously not going to budge from that decision.

Jezebel looked at Charlie, that'd dated for two and a half years. Even though she tried to convince herself otherwise, he still meant something to her.

"Please Charlie." She said.

He stared at her, then shook his head. "I'd love to, but I made a promise to CJ. I'm sticking by it."

Jezebel's next motion shocked everybody, she ran over and hugged him. He though, had expected it and hugged her back.

"I'm sorry," he said, "For everything, I was such an idiot."

"It doesn't matter," She said, tears escaping. She pushed him back and looked him in the eyes. "Promise me you'll stay safe."

"I promise." He said. "You look after yourself." Then he looked at Vlad, "You look after her too."

How was it that everyone knew her business? Even before she did? When this was all over there was going to be some serious arguments to be had, but right now the main idea was surviving.

There was a howl, quite close and the most frightening thing was, it wasn't one of their werewolves.

"Quick, you people go hide in a house or a shop or something." Aiden said to the other group. Then turned to Liz. "Go!"

Liz set off at a run, a normal human speed run. Everyone followed suit, moving as swiftly as they could.

Another howl rang out through the forest. It was scarily close. Jezebel could hear paws hitting the ground.

"Hurry up!" She shouted. Suddenly a huge creature leapt out, taking Joe out. Nicole screamed, stopping in horror. Liz was already beside Joe, throwing the creature backwards. Jezebel saw that it was a big wolf, like Aiden but this one was a grey wolf. It snarled at Liz as it got its footing back. Then another wolf crashed into the side of it just as it was about to leap. It was a black wolf, to be more precise, Aiden. Then other wolves followed him, eventually driving the grey wolf away. Aiden and the pack quickly morphed back and set off running again. Liz helped Joe up and sped to the front with him where they carried on running, Joe obviously had Liz's support while running.

The house was a huge two-storey house, with a beautiful porch with a bench and canopy. Liz opened the door and motioned them all inside.

"Welcome to my home." She said.

Chapter 8

"My head hurts so much." Jezebel flopped down onto the comfy bed, feeling in pain and utterly useless.

"Why?" Chalice said, slamming her suitcase down on the bed and opening it. "Did you bang it on something?"

Her and Chalice had got roomed together. Liz had a lot of spare bedrooms in her house. It was two to a room.

"No, I don't know why it hurts." She sighed and clasped her cold hand to her burning forehead. Then she realised something. She sat up swiftly, "Where did you get that suitcase?" she asked, her eyes narrowing at Chalice.

Chalice just shrugged, "Liz told me to use a portal to go home and get some of my things, I was escorted there by a werewolf." Then she paused, "I think Ophelia was told to go too. They are have used some sort of weird magic on earth."

"What sort of weird magic?"

"Well I don't know, but Anastasia has made it so that any portal that is opened leads right to them and not where you want it to go. She's working on it right now." Then she put a hand on Jezebel's shoulder, "I'm sorry I would have told you sooner, I thought Liz would have told you first. I'm – just a complete idiot, I'm really sorry Jez."

"It's ok I – " She cut off when she heard a little noise from the suitcase.

Then there was a little rustle of clothing and a little head popped out. The young cat meowed and fought it way out.

"Oh yeah – and I kinda brought my cat." Chalice rubbed the back of her head and smiled nervously.

The ginger tabby stretched out it front paws then trotted over to its owner, sitting on the bed in front of her expectantly. Chalice's expression melted into awe and she picked up the cat and hugged it. The cat allowed itself to be hugged then hopped back down on the bed when instructed to. It sat by its owner. "Please don't tell Liz, I wouldn't be able to bear it if she threw Thorn out."

"Thorn." Jezebel repeated blankly, then she realised. "Oh my god! Luna! I have to go home!"

"Who's Luna?" Chalice asked, stroking the cat absently.

"My cat! I can't leave her at home, she'll be eaten!" Jezebel closed her eyes and concentrated on where she wanted to be. Chalice grabbed her shoulders and shook her violently.

"You can't take a portal anywhere! You'll be falling right into their hands!" Chalice shook her again. "Please Jez. You're my sister. I love you; please don't go. We can get you a new cat when it's all over."

"Would you be saying that if it was Thorn?" It was uncalled for, but it made her point. Luna had always been there, she was also a very intelligent cat. Jezebel loved her to bits. "Do you think she will have completed the spell yet?"

"I don't know, its possible. Jez, pl –"

"I have to try. Chalice, they can't do anything without the three of us. So no matter what, I don't want _anyone_ coming back after me. Do you understand?" She was determined.

"Jez –" Chalice looked like she was going to argue then her face softened and she sighed, "Okay, but you be careful."

"I will. No one follows me, no matter what, promise me you won't let them find follow me. Sisters promise." Jezebel said.

"Sister's promise." Chalice smiled then hugged her hard. "Be careful, sis. Really please."

Jezebel nodded then closed her eyes and concentrated. She wanted to be home. She imagined her living room, the black wallpaper and the red carpet. The black chairs and her gothic style coffee table. She could picture everything so clearly, right down to her little gargoyle ornaments on the fireplace. The felt the floor beneath her start to move, she was about to land in her living room. Just as the floor fell away a sharp stab of pain in her head made her double over. She forgot her living room, forgot that she was even using a portal. She was falling, holding her head as if it could detach at any moment.

She landed hard on the cold ground; the pain in her head had subsided slightly. Just enough for her to take in her surroundings. She gathered instantly that she was on a motorway somewhere; but it was dark and a lot of the streetlights were out. There wasn't any cars driving on her side of the road but an occasional one passed on the other side of the road. Then she noticed a car parked at an angle on the middle of the road just ahead of her. There was someone leaning in the window at each side; dressed in what looked like black robes. Just as the one on the driver's side moved she felt another stab of pain in her head. Then she got the oddest feeling. She knew there was someone in the car that was in trouble and she had to help; she had no explanation or how she knew that she had to do something. She concentrated on the people leaning in the windows and despite her head pain sent out a push of pure energy at them. She made a pushing motion with her hands as she did this; she felt the power leave her fingertips. The two people – men, she'd just found out – were thrown away from the car. They got up, startled, looking at each other. Then did the most amazing thing, they grabbed each other's hands and disappeared as if they'd never been there in the first place. Then there was the matter of the person in the car. Without thinking twice she ran over, her boots clunking heavily on the ground. It was easy to notice in the almost silence.

Reaching the car window she stopped, looking inside. There was a boy – well not really a boy, should be called a man, but meh, who cares – of her age sat in the driver seat. He looked unconscious – almost dead. He had long shiny golden hair that fell around his shoulders in a disarray of waves. It wasn't too wavy but wavy enough to capture her heart. He had such a lovely face too, but he looked awfully pale, perhaps he was scared or ill or hurt.

"Hello?" She said tentatively, "Hello? Are you alive?" Man, that was a stupid thing to say, she scolded herself inwardly. She shook the boy slightly. He made a drowsy groan and opened his eyes. She gasped, they were purple, a lovely light – but not freakily light – purple.

"Oh, hi, sorry I must have dosed off." His voice sounded shaken, but still was magnificent. He tried to sit up straight. He and Jezebel clasped a hand to their head in pain at nearly the exact same time. They looked at each other.

He gave a short laugh, "Everyone seems to have head injuries these days," then he managed to turn and look behind him. "Hey, where's your car?"

"Oh, I didn't – " She stumbled for words.

"Hey, I know you. Your that Jezebel girl Theo's looking for." The boy said.

"Crap." She said, discovered so soon. It was quite depressing. "So I guess your going to knock me out and drag me to the bloodthirsty monsters."

The boy looked shocked, "Of course not! And that's a bit harsh, not all of our people are monsters."

Jezebel took an involuntary step back at the news, "You're a vampire?"

He held up his hands as if in surrender, "Yeah, I promise I won't hurt you, I'm not like that. Please don't run." There was obvious pain in his eyes. Then he frowned, "What are you doing out here, especially without a car?"

"I tried to use a portal to get home, and ended up here." She admitted, feeling strangely at ease.

"You shouldn't use them, Anastasia is putting some weird spell on them so they all lead to her. You were lucky to not end up with her." He said, "Where you live?"

"Bradford." She replied. _Bad girl!_ She scolded herself again, _telling a vampire where you live; especially when you are on the run is idiotic!_

"Want me to drive you there?" He asked, "its not far from here, I was heading that way anyway."

He might lock her in and take her to Theo, could she take that risk and try getting a lift home or should she just try walk?

"I'm on your side, I promise." He said, as if he'd read her mind – which he probably had. "I hate Theo and all of them up there."

She relaxed, and then scolded herself inwardly again. _Stop being so trusting!_ Despite that she got in the car on the passenger side. She put her seatbelt on; despite her relaxedness she leant away from him. That was common sense kicking in. He looked at her with an odd sadness. "I'm really not a monster," he muttered then set off.

"So, what brought you back?" he asked as they sped along that dark motorway, headlights glaring in front of them. It was almost impossible to see anything through the tinted windows, but Jezebel pretended to look out of them anyway to avoid meeting his gorgeous, but unusual purple eyes.

"I wanted to get – my cat." That sounded so stupid, but she couldn't think of a good lie.

He smiled, "Pet person then." She nodded, he smiled wider, "Me too. I used to have a dog called Bob. Bob the dog." He laughed, Jezebel laughed with him. "I didn't give him that name, he already had that name when I got him but I had him since he was a puppy, right up until the end. You know, he was my best friend, my only friend when I was on the run because of my – condition." It had taken him a few seconds to think of the last word.

"You mean, being a vampire?" Jezebel asked, completely at ease.

"Yeah, it is a bit of a nuisance sometimes, but everyone got problems, who am I to complain?" He laughed again. She was really starting to like this guy. Her better judgment was telling her to stop being a moron and wake up. He was a vampire, vampire equalled enemy; but she couldn't help it, she was drawn to him, deep down she knew he was a good man, he wouldn't hurt her. Mind control! Damien did it! What makes him different? Her better judgement was screaming again, but she ignored it.

"So, how did you parents act when you were left in their care unexpectedly?" He asked, drawing her attention back. Ouch, ok, her parents was a touchy subject and she didn't like to talk about it with anyone but she found herself spilling it all out to this vampire she'd only known for twenty minutes.

"They left me when I was fifteen. Left me in the house alone." She explained, feeling miserable and rotten, "They found out that – that I was a freak and I could do things that normal humans couldn't do. They saw me as a freak and didn't want me with them. I was allowed to stay in the house, I was a village secret. They were all sympathetic, seeing me as an orphan.

I was always dreading the day that sympathy would dry up and they'd put me in a foster home."

The vampire looked at her, with something like anger mixed with sympathy. "They left you? Just left you there?" he asked.

She nodded, "They just packed up one night, then told me in the morning just as they were leaving and left me behind."

"That's just horrible." The vampire's fists tightened on the steering wheel then relaxed. "Anyway its over now. You'll be fine."

She nodded again, not too sure on the 'you'll be fine' part, but the conflict with her parents was over. She didn't even know if they were still alive, hell she didn't even know where they were even if she wanted to go check. It seemed a good time to change the subject.

"Anyway, what's your name? It seems unfair that you know mine and I don't know yours."

The boy gave a short nervous laugh, "Um, it's a stupid name. I don't like it."

"What is it?"

"I don't want to say." He kept his eyes glued on the road ahead of him – it was pretty amazing he could see through the tinted glass, but somehow they weren't crashing.

"Come on." She prompted, encouragingly, "I'm sure it's not _that_ bad."

He sighed, "Fine, its Casper."

"What's wrong with that?" She asked, "I think that's a cool name."

"No, it isn't. I hate the name." He grimaced.

"Well I like it." Then there was silence as they drove through the night. She could hardly see anything through the windows.

"I have a few CDs if you want to listen to some music. They're in the glove compartment." He said, the silence obviously getting to him.

She opened it up and took out three CDs, then gawped at the titles.

"You like My Chem?" She asked with disbelief.

"Yeah, absolutely love them. Sorry, don't you?"

"I freakin' love them!" She squealed, "I haven't had chance to listen to them in so long." She took the CD out and put it into the CD player and pressed play. It was the 'I brought you my bullets, you brought me your love' album. She heard the intro to Helena come on and squealed more. Casper's lips twitched in amusement.

Whilst singing along she looked through the other CDs, the first two were My Chemical Romance CDs and the last one was The Used ' Lies for Liars' CD.

"Wow, you like good music." She said and put the remaining two CDs back in the glove compartment.

"Thanks." He smiled, a breathtaking thing, she stared at him. Those perfect white teeth, she couldn't help notice the canines were slightly sharper than a normal persons would have been. He closed his mouth quickly when he noticed where her gaze was directed.

"Oh, sorry." She said. "I just had bad experiences with vampires. No offence to you, you seem nice – and you have good taste in music." She added the last bit as her favourite part of the song came on. She mouthed the words, waiting for his response.

"What do you mean bad experiences?" He frowned.

"Well it's not just vampires." She admitted.

"Go on." He prompted when she stayed silent.

"Well, my best friend who I've known for years, it turns out he's a werewolf. He never told me, after all them years and it was quite hard to accept but I haven't let it show to him, because despite his werewolfness he's still my friend and I don't want to hurt him." She explained, he nodded for her to continue, so she did. "Then I met this boy at school, he was really nice but really isolated at the same time, he didn't like to be around people, I made friends with him – sort of anyway – and I sort of got this crush on him." She blushed; from the corner of her eye it looked like Casper flinched, but when she looked at him his expression was controlled and attentive. So she continued, "Then I got controlled by a vampire who I met in my living room." Casper gave her a funny look, she understood why, she'd do the same, "I know, it's weird, I didn't even hear him get in, anyway, he was in my living room and controlled me and manipulated me and made me do what he wanted. He even drank my blood a few times." Casper's fists clenched slightly on the steering wheel, then relaxed and he commented.

"That's just not right."

"I know," She replied, blushing. He cared. "But I couldn't have done anything about it. Anyway that's my story over." She looked at him. "What are you doing here anyway?" She asked.

"If I'm honest, I really don't know." He looked at her puzzled expression and smiled, "I just had a feeling that I had to come this way. I don't even know what I'm supposed to be looking for, all I knew was that I was going this way."

"Strange." She commented, looking back out of the window. "I sometimes have feelings like that, but I ignore them. I really can't do much else."

"Yeah, I usually ignore them, but this one was really strong. I felt as if something bad was going to happen if I didn't."

"Do you still feel that way?"

"No it's gone." He frowned at the road ahead of him, "Huh, that's weird. The feeling of need to go somewhere has gone too. I might as well take you home and find a place to stay in Bradford then."

"Why can't you go home?"

"I don't have a home anymore." He said it so casually.

"Why not?!" She was shocked, he had nowhere to go.

"They destroyed my home."

"Who did?"

"Theo's men."

"I really hate that stuck up bloodsucker!" She exploded. He ruined everyone's lives, if it came round to it she would kill him herself.

"He thought I was hiding something, I wasn't, so after he wrecked my house I was left alone." Casper shrugged as if it didn't mean much. She knew it did. She'd be devastated if she lost her home. Before she could stop herself, she put a comforting hand on his shoulder. A shockwave ran through her hand at the touch. It ran through her hand up her hand and dispersed itself throughout her body. She stared at Casper. He looked at her. He'd felt it too. "That was slightly strange," He commented, "Were you doing some weird witch thing on me then?"

"No, I didn't do anything." She was offended that he'd even think she would. She didn't like using her witch powers anyway. They took a lot out of you, especially opening portals. The little shockwaves were still running through her – probably him too – she removed her hand and sat back in her seat, turning her attention back to the window.

"Strange," He muttered.

This had been such a long hard day; Jezebel leant her head against the cool window and sighed. She felt her eyelids droop and soon she fell into a peaceful sleep.

"How could you have let her go?!" Vlad exploded with rage, "Theo probably has her now!" Chalice just stared at him, frowning, with her arms crossed over her chest.

"She has her own life." Chalice said coolly, "You can't stop her."

"But she went back for a cat! Of all things, a _cat_!"

"She's your soulmate! Shouldn't you know how she's feeling? If she's in trouble or not? Shouldn't you sense it?" Chalice arched an eyebrow at him.

"I – I –" Vlad struggled for words. Yes, he should sense that. He should feel if she was in trouble. Then again, he never had sensed that, he should've sensed it when she went missing on that first day. He felt tears well up in his eyes. They weren't soulmates. He forced back the tears and glared at Chalice. The short but strong young woman was glaring back.

"We aren't soulmates." He said flatly. His glare intensified at the face that she didn't seem to care at all.

"Can't we find out how she is?" Ophelia's quiet voice cut in. She was talking to Chalice.

"Yes, we can." Chalice replied, not looking away from Vlad. Ophelia was the one who dragged her away.

The girls sat in the centre of the living room. The room was dark, the curtains were shut and the only light came form a small candle on the coffee table. Next to the candle was a circular silver tray, which was filled with water. Ophelia and Chalice held their hands over it and began mumbling words that the others sat around watching didn't understand. The water in the tray began to glow and dark shapes began moving just underneath its surface. The girls started mumbling faster, as they sped up the shapes under the water began to swirl. Then they glowed and a picture came into view. The girls stopped mumbling and removed their hands and watched. It was like watching a TV screen. An image of a girl came into view and everyone stared.

"There she is." Nicole gasped, clutching Andrew's hand. "She's ok."

"Where is she?" Andrew frowned at the image.

Jezebel was talking, but they couldn't see who to. She was happy and laughing but there was no sound – they didn't really expect that much from a tray of water anyway.

"She's in a car." Vlad said, not looking happy. "Can you flip it so we can see who she's talking to?"

"It's not a camera you know. What you get is what you see." Chalice said. The car stopped all of a sudden. The door opened and Jezebel got out. The image was now of an empty car seat. Chalice closed off the image. "At least she's safe." Chalice said then got up and stretched.

"I'm going to bed." She said on a yawn and left the room before anyone could stop her. People gradually started leaving the room. The only people left in the dark living room by the end of it were Aiden, Andrew, Nicole and Vlad. Andrew and Nicole were cuddled up together on the couch. Vlad sat in the armchair staring at the fire that they'd lit in the fireplace and Aiden sat alone on the other couch hugging a cushion.

"She's not my soulmate." Vlad muttered absently. His voice sounded strained and full of misery. He wasn't talking to anybody, just muttering to himself.

"It'll be ok. You don't need to be soulmates." Aiden tried to comfort him, but with him also feeling lousy it wasn't easy, "I mean, you can still love her without you being soulmates, right?"

Vlad looked up, as if only just realising there were other people in the room. "It's not the same." He said, staring straight at Aiden. Then he directed his gaze back to the fire. "Soulmates are born for each other. They like nearly the same things, they are connected on a deeper level than any other couple could ever be. They're the person you spend the rest of your life with." The silence between everyone in the room stretched on and on.

There was a rustle outside, everyone's gaze immediately darted to the window. It was dark out there. Nicole's eyes would see it as pitch-blackness but the rest of them could see quite well. No one moved, it could be anyone out there.

"I'll go look." Aiden sighed getting up. He looked calm, but on the inside his heart was hammering against his ribs. He opened the door and stepped out into the warm night air. He inhaled deeply through his nose, trying to catch a recent scent, and he did.

Something slammed against his left side, knocking the air out of him and forcing him to the ground. Then cold fingers clasped in his hair and he was dragged into the forest. He kicked and squirmed but the hand holding his hair was strong. He couldn't shout, he could hardly breathe. When the house was out of sight the person dropped him. It was only for a second then the hand caught around his throat and lifted him off the ground. He looked down into two shining red eyes. A vampire, more to the point, one of Theo's vampire minions.

"Where are the girls?" He said in his deep, throaty voice.

"I – don't know." Aiden choked out, it was getting really hard to breath now. The vampire slammed him back against a tree, his head hitting it hard. He felt a sharp stabbing pain in his head and a cold trickle ran down the back of his head.

"Where are they!" The vampire roared. Aiden couldn't breathe, he was struggling to get the vampire off of him. He hadn't eaten in quite a while, he was weak and he was losing blood and dizzy.

"I – don't – know" Aiden tried again, his voice was weaker and it was a painful struggle to speak.

"Aiden!" The voice was clear as a bell as it rang through the forest. The vampire glanced back in the direction of the house. Andrew was speeding towards them. The vampire dropped Aiden and turned to face Andrew, in a position that was ready to strike.

Taking his chance, Aiden leapt on the vampire and tried to strangle him, but with him being weak the vampire just tossed him aside like a rag-doll. Andrew threw a good hard punch at the vampire, it made contact with the vampire's chest, sending him stumbling backwards a few steps. Then the vampire, growled and knocked Andrew against a tree where he slumped down to the ground.

"Andrew!" Aiden shouted, feeling despair. They were both dead now, he couldn't save Andrew. The vampire laughed and turned back to him. He drew a silver dagger out of his robe with a gloved hand (as silver did hurt vampires too) and loomed over a weak injured Aiden. Aiden stared up at him, this was it, and at least he didn't have to watch his friend die. Maybe while this was happening Andrew would wake up and sneak away unnoticed, better yet, maybe he could bring reinforcements and somehow save him.

The vampire raised the dagger about his head. This was going to be an awfully painful blow. Aiden tensed and braced himself for the pain.

Then the vampire staggered backward, letting out a blood-curdling scream. He'd dropped the dagger and he was swiping wildly at something on his back. Then on another scream the vampire collapsed, Andrew quickly followed it.

"Andrew!" Aiden scrambled his way over on his hands and knees, not having the strength to get up. Andrew lay next to the dead vampire breathing heavy.

"Hey, you're ok." Andrew smiled up at him. He was breathing heavy.

"Drew, dude, you did it." Aiden punched his arm weakly – not that he could do much else, "how did you do that, he –" Aiden froze when he saw blood around Andrew's mouth. His stomach plummeted and his heart seemed to skip several beats. "Tell me you didn't – "

Andrew made a weak gesture, which should have been a shrug, "You were about to die, man, what was I supposed to do?"

"Andrew, no, you can't have done that." Aiden felt warm tears streak down his face, "No, your such an idiot. Why?"

"Cuz you're my best friend." Andrew said, then his face twisted with pain and he clutched his stomach.

"No, no, no this can't be happening." Aiden said, panicking. "Someone help!" He shouted toward the house. "Please, someone!" then he turned back to Andrew, "Don't you die on me, you can't die on me now." Aiden pushed the dead vampire away with all the strength he had left and slid off his jacket. Folding it up and placing it under Andrew's head. He wiped the blood away from Andrew's mouth. "You know vampire blood is toxic to us! Why Andrew? Why? Why are you doing this to me?" Aiden was openly crying now, fussing over Andrew but not having a clue what he was doing.

"Because," Andrew took a deep breath and winced as another wave of pain hit him, "I know you would have done the same for me. You were always saving my ass, now it was my turn to save yours." Andrew gave another weak smile. "Don't cry, dude. I'm happy to go. I've done a good thing and I took a vampire with me." Andrew gave a weak laugh and Aiden did too.

"You're my best friend, you can't die. Just hang on, we might be able to save you if we just – "

"It's too late." Andrew interrupted. "I can feel it spreading."

"No, please Andrew."

"Aiden." Andrew interrupted again, he didn't have long left and he knew it, "You're my best friend and always will be. I'm going to die knowing I did a good thing. I'm happy to go out this way. Do you understand?"

Aiden nodded and gave another sob.

"Besides, I'll wait for you in the spirit world. There I'll be free," Andrew looked at him then gave a small smirk, "Plus, there might be hot girls there. I'll save you some."

"Yeah if you get any." Aiden laughed, it was a weak sound but it was genuine. Andrew laughed too.

"I'll miss you, man."

"I'll miss you too."

They clasped hands and gave a weak squeeze, the way the always had done. Then Andrew's hand went limp and fell onto his stomach. Andrew's face was peaceful but lifeless. Aiden felt another surge of tears. He wouldn't let this be forgotten. Theo would pay for this.

Nicole screamed from not far away and she ran, collapsing at Andrew's side.

"Andrew." She grabbed his face, turning it towards her. "Andrew!" She was crying and shaking him as if he was only sleeping. "Andrew!" She said with despair. Aiden grabbed her and took her into a tight comforting embrace. She clung to the back of his shirt and sobbed into his chest. Aiden stroked her hair as he let his own tears run down his cheeks.

"Shh, it's ok." He hushed her, "He's in a better place, away from this madness."

Nicole seemed to calm down slightly, she was still sobbing but she didn't reply and let herself be comforted.

"It'll be ok." Aiden repeated in a whisper.

"Well here we are." Casper said, pulling into Jezebel's driveway. The security light didn't come on. Jezebel looked up at her big dark house and sighed.

"Thank you." She said and opened the car door. Then she looked back at him, remembering what he said about his home. "Where are you going to go now?"

"Oh I don't know, I'll just drive until I find somewhere." He smiled his gorgeous smile at her. She tried to smile back but felt slightly guilty. She slid out of the car, shut the door and wandered up the driveway to her garden gate. Casper reversed the car out of the driveway. Jezebel suddenly felt empty and alone watching him leave. He had nowhere to go and was probably going to tire himself out driving. Then she remember what she'd seen when she came through the portal. Them people, had they been attacking him? He looked as if he'd been beat up when she'd first seen him but his vampire healing powers had cleared up the evidence quickly. Still, she wouldn't want to risk that with him again. He'd been nice to her, he'd not turned her in to his own leader and that amazed her.

Surely it wouldn't hurt for him – her thoughts stopped quickly as she saw him get ready to set off. She ran full speed down the driveway. Casper, thankfully, noticed her and rolled down the passenger side window.

"Casper, I was wondering. Seen as you have nowhere to go." She felt herself blushing, "I wondered if you wanted to stay with me. I mean it's totally fine if you don't want to." Then the fear of rejection raised its ugly head and her heart caught in her throat. He seemed to consider it for a minute.

"If you don't mind, I would like to. I'm not imposing or anything am I?" Casper smiled at her.

"Of course not. I'd love to have you here. I don't have anyone else besides Luna." Jezebel smiled and added. "I'll see you inside."

Then she rushed up the path to the house. The spare key was under the empty flowerpot by the door. She unlocked the door and went inside, turning on the lights as she went through the room. She was amazed that the power was still on. Then she heard a faint meow from the corner. Luna leapt off the chair and ran straight for Jezebel. She instantly picked up the cat and hugged it. Luna had been alone so long it was amazing she hadn't died of starvation. Upon putting the cat down Jezebel went to the kitchen and filled the cats food dish. Casper came through the door just as she was putting it down for Luna. She locked the door after him and closed the blinds. "You can go sit down if you want." Jezebel said, "I live in a bungalow so it's not really hard to find the living room."

Casper chuckled then went to find the living room. Jezebel smiled to herself and stroked Luna's head before turning and finding something that wasn't out of date to eat from the cupboard. Turned out the only food left were some crisps, some frozen food, a jar of chocolate sandwich spread and some tinned pasta you put in a bowl and put in the microwave. She threw out all the out of date things that couldn't be eaten. Her cupboards were practically bare now. She'd have to somehow get some food in soon, she started to wonder if any of the shops would be open. Deciding that she was too hungry and tired to find out she took a packet of prawn cocktail crisps out of the cupboard and then shouted, "Casper. Would you like anything to eat?"

"No thank you." His musical voice drifted back, she shuddered at the sound. It was so lovely. She shut the cupboard and went to the living room ,opening her crisps along the way. He'd managed to work the TV and was watching cartoons.

"You child." She giggled and plonked herself down in the chair by the window to watch TV. She noticed that the curtains were shut. "Did you shut these?"

"Yeah I shut all the curtains in the house. Hope you don't mind." He said, then he seemed to consider something. "You have blackout curtains in most rooms…why?"

"I don't know. They just seemed necessary," She shrugged and finished her packet of crisps, discarding the empty packet in the wastebasket beside her chair. Casper nodded and didn't pry further. He looked very pale in the light, Jezebel noticed but she didn't say anything.

"Is there any shops open where I can get more food?" Jezebel asked, it was out of the blue, but she wanted to keep talking to him.

"Yeah, everything's open. Even schools." Casper said. "Theo took over but decided to let the human race live among the different species. Pretty weird going to school with a bunch of werewolves, vampire, witches and stuff. But yeah, the shops are open, if you write me a list of what you need I'll go get you it tomorrow." He offered.

"No, I couldn't ask you to do that after all you've done for me. I'll go myself in the morning." She said.

"I insist. Besides, people are looking for you, you can't just go wandering around shops. Write a list and I'll go in the morning."

Jezebel sighed, he was right. She picked up the note pad and pen off the table next to her – where she always left them – and began writing. When she'd finished she handed the page to Casper who looked it over and put it in his pocket. Jezebel yawned.

"I think its time we went to bed." He laughed. "Or you at least, you look exhausted."

"I am." She admitted. Sleeping arrangements. Problem. There was only the one double bed in the house and she doubted he'd want to share it with her and it wouldn't be right to have to do that either. He was the guest so he was top priority.

"You can have the double bed in my room and I'll sleep on the couch" she said. "I'll go get my nightgown and then the room is yours."

"You have the bed, I'll sleep on the couch." Casper said, getting up and stretching. "It's your house, you have the bed. I'll be fine on the couch."

"Are you sure?" She was amazed, "the couch isn't comfortable at all."

"All the more reason for me to have it. Don't fret about it, ok? See you in the morning."

Jezebel got up and went into her room. She pulled her spare pillow and duvet out of the bottom drawer and took them in to Casper. He thanked her and then she went back into her room, changed and got into bed. It felt nice to be back home and in the snug, comfortable bed. Luna curled up at the foot of the bed and fell asleep, just as she always used to do.

Jezebel smiled and let herself drift to sleep.

She woke in the morning to the sound of running water. It was seven am. Jezebel dragged herself out of bed and got dressed. She ran a brush quickly through her hair it had grown a lot, it was now just below her shoulders. She noticed that it seemed to be a lot lighter than it used to be, but it felt greasy and horrible. She might have a shower. She then thought about Casper, he seemed to be tall but slim with obvious muscles. She dug in her wardrobe. She found some of her brother's old clothes, her brother was tall but was a bit rounder (as a nice way to put it) than Casper, well a lot rounder compared to Casper. She grabbed the pile and went to the living room. The duvet was neatly folded up on one side of the couch with the pillow on top. Jezebel set the pile of clothes next to it and then walked back to go get a shower. She almost ran straight into Casper.

"Oh sorry. I didn't know you were awake yet." He apologized. His golden hair was dripping wet He was wearing his jeans and nothing else. She stared at his exposed upper body in awe. He had beautifully toned muscles and no chest hair. She hated chest hair. Casper was absolutely gorgeous, she couldn't help the wicked little fantasies that flashed through her mind. "I've done the shopping, everything's put away." His voice brought her attention back and she looked up into his purple eyes.

"Oh. Thank you." She said. "I found some of my brothers old clothes that you can have. I just didn't want you having to wear the same clothes over and over again."

"Thanks."

"No problem. I'm just going to have a quick shower."

"Ok then. I'll be in here watching TV." Casper smiled then moved around her to go sort through the pile of clothes she had brought in.

After her shower she felt much better. She was dressed in some different clothes, finally. Her black skull top and her dark jeans. Casper was waiting for her in the living room. He had chosen her brothers Alien T-shirt to wear and a pair of her brother's old dark jeans that looked quite baggy on Casper. He smiled at her when she walked in.

She seated herself on the couch next to him. He was watching 'Scrubs'. She loved 'Scrubs'.

"I bought you something." He said, "So you're not trapped in your house all the time. " Then he smiled and reached down the side of the couch and brought out a plastic bag, a big one at that. He handed it to her. She looked inside and gasped. Inside was a black wig, made of human hair, the price tag on it was a hundred pounds. The other things in the bag consisted of a pair of purple coloured contacts, not the lovely purple colour of Casper's eyes but it was a nice colour. There was also a black velvet cloak with purple lining. Some perfume that she couldn't read the label of but the contents was a weird glowing orange liquid.

"Casper," She gasped, "This must have cost a fortune."

"It doesn't matter."

"It does. I feel really bad taking this off of you."

"I bought them for you." He laughed, "Besides, consider it my thank you for letting me stay with you."

She looked up at him startled, "You're leaving?"

He looked puzzled, "Why? Don't you want me to?"

"No." She hadn't mean to say it out loud that abruptly. She tried to amend it. "I mean, you have nowhere to go and it's nice having someone around."

"So you want me to stay with you?"

"Yes please." She felt the warmth of colour rush to her cheeks as she said it.

He smiled at her. He looked paler today.

"Are you ok? You look pale." She asked.

"I'm fine," he said. He wasn't, she could tell he wasn't. Then she twigged. It was so blatantly obvious that she mentally kicked herself for not thinking of it sooner. He was a vampire and he was hungry. He needed blood.

"You're hungry." She commented.

"Yeah." He sighed, "but it doesn't matter."

"It does." She protested. Then she couldn't think of how to put what she was offering into words, "Well, - um – I'm here and I'm willing to – make a donation."

"No, I couldn't do that to you. I'll go see if I can find something to feed off tonight. Relax, I'm in control." He put a casual arm around her shoulders and gave her a little squeeze then eased her back to watch 'Scrubs'.

Aiden stared at the roof of his bedroom. The room was so empty without Andrew there to mess about with. Play eye-spy or something. He looked over at the empty bed across from his. Andrew wasn't coming back.

"Aiden." Nicole said hesitantly from the doorway. Aiden raised his head, glanced at her then let it flop back on to the pillow. "It's been two days. Aren't you going to come downstairs?" she moved a step closer, he heard it but couldn't care less. He shook his head without looking up. Nicole sighed and sat next to him on the bed, stroking his arm. "Look, I know he was your best friend but do you think he'd really want you acting this way?"

Aiden groaned and rolled away from her.

"You know I'm right." Nicole ran her fingers over his hair gently. "Come on. We'll go get you something to eat." She took his hand. He reluctantly rolled back and let himself be dragged away from the comfort of his bed. The door was open to Lizzie's room and Joe and Elizabeth were stood flirting in the doorway. She kissed him on the cheek lightly then giggled.

"Get a room you two." Nicole grimaced as they walked passed.

"We're in one." Liz replied, noticing their presence then shut the door on them.

Nicole dragged Aiden downstairs and to the kitchen where she handed him a plate from the fridge. Aiden looked down at the bloody raw meat without an appetite, then he looked back at Nicole blankly.

"I found out that that's what your people eat." She said, avoiding eye contact but also avoiding looking at the plate. "And you have to eat something, so bon appetite."

Aiden sat down at the table and started to eat. He didn't taste much of anything he was eating; he was just eating because he had to. Nicole watched him with odd interest but he didn't feel up to trying to decipher what the look meant. He simply ate then returned to his room. Chalice burst into his room two seconds later shouting, "Downstairs, mopey! I have an idea!"

Jezebel woke up, her body ached all over. She shouldn't have taken a mid-day nap, but then again she'd felt so tired. She wandered into the living room, only to find Casper was sat, with a pumpkin on his knee, a permanent marker in his hand and he was sat back frowning at it.

"Um, Casper? What are you doing?" She sat on the chair on the other side of the room to look out of the window. It was dark out now.

"I'm trying to think of a design for the jack o' lantern." He said without looking up.

"Aren't they for Halloween?"

"It is Halloween."

"What?!" She squealed. Casper jumped and finally looked up at her.

"Whats wrong?" he asked, looking slightly scared.

"Halloween is my favourite holiday! Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" She leapt out of the chair and went into her bedroom to get her Halloween things ready.

Casper shook his head with a smile; she was one of the craziest people he'd ever met. And he loved it. Jezebel wandered back in a few minutes later wearing her black wig and contacts. Along with blood red lipstick and a tight, sexy witches dress with fishnet stockings, the dress was so short the suspenders were visible. She was carrying what looked like a load of Halloween decorations, which she then began putting up. Casper felt his jaw drop open at the sight. He forced his gaze back to the pumpkin. The doorbell rang.

"Trick-or-Treaters." Casper said. "There's sweets in a bowl on the counter in the kitchen."

Jezebel rushed away, Casper couldn't help but watch her cute little behind wiggle as she dashed out. He smiled and began carving.

Jezebel grabbed the sweets and swung the door open. Four children stood on her doorstep all around the age of five or six.

"Trick-or-Treat." They chanted with innocent little smiles.

"Aww, aren't you all adorable." She held the sweet bowl down so they could take some. They grabbed at the sweets then instead of running away like all Trick-or-Treaters used to do. They smiled and thanked her.

"Who's looking after you?" She asked, suddenly concerned. Four young children shouldn't be running around unattended, especially with vampires and all sorts of creatures lurking around.

"I am." The voice came from the shadows and a tall man with long black hair and a perfect face. He looked unhappy. "You're the first person to care about their safety." He gave a half-smile. He was a vampire, she was sure of it.

"Are they supposed to be with you?" She asked; suddenly very protective of the children. She loved kids and most certainly wouldn't want them running around with a crazy bloodsucker.

"I'm Cassandra's father." He said. "The little witch." He added when Jezebel gave him a confused look. Jezebel looked down at the little girl who was dressed up as a witch. Cassandra gave her a big smile and Jezebel felt her heart melt. The little girl was gorgeous and had a heartbreaking smile. She was a vampire. The colour of her eyes and the tone of her skin gave that away. Also the smile had shown her sharp canines, not extended but still obviously sharp.

"Come on children, don't keep the lady standing out in the cold." He said.

"Thank you." Cassandra said sweetly then skipped off to her dad, who took her hand. The other children (three boys) ran after them.

Jezebel shut the door and went back to the living room, taking the sweet bowl with her and dumping it on the table. Casper had finished carving the pumpkin.

"What do you think?" He asked and turned around the expertly carved pumpkin. She stared in awe at the pumpkin. She always loved craving the pumpkin and making it look as good as possible, but Casper's just blew everything away with all the detail he'd gone into.

"It's great." She said, then sat back in the chair and began to miss her friends. She could picture them now. All of them dressed up and sat on the couch watching a scary film. Charlie sat away from her cowering in a corner. Neelofar, Nicole and CJ scared and jumping at anything. Joe just watching and being bored and James sat with his arm around her….James! She hadn't seen him for ages, she hoped he was ok.

All night they were bombarded by wave after wave of Trick-or-Treaters. It got to midnight and all the Trick-or-Treating stopped and Jezebel went and put her nightgown on and went to bed. She awoke later through the night feeling cold and very thirsty. On her way to the bathroom to get a cup of water she caught a glimpse of Casper in the living room and couldn't help but move for a better look. He was sprawled out on the couch wearing nothing but some baggy sweat pants, he was laying rather awkwardly and seemed to be very uncomfortable for the way he kept shuffling restlessly. He'd done so much for her, it was wrong to make him sleep on the couch.

She shook his arm gently, "Casper," She said. He awoke, but still seemed in a sleepy daze.

"Huh, what?" He blinked several times and frowned.

"Come with me." She took his hand and led him off the couch into her bedroom. "You can share the bed with me from now on" she crawled into bed. He followed and was soon sound asleep as well as Jezebel.

Luna's fur on her back raised and she hissed wildly. This wasn't normal; Luna never acted like this, not even when you accidentally stepped on her tail. She sensed something, knew something and what ever it was she didn't like it. Jezebel jumped as a knock came at the door. Casper was out shopping again. She quickly threw on her wig and put her contacts in, doing a quick spray of the perfume to hide her scent, then she ran to the door and swung it open. Outside stood a tall pale man. He was wearing a suit and holding a clipboard and pen.

"Hello, miss." He greeted her with a warm smile, "Would you be so kind as to write down your name, age and telephone number next to your address?" he handed her the clipboard and pen.

"Um…What for?" She asked, hesitantly. This guy wasn't human, she could tell by his eyes, they shone a brilliant silver.

"Oh, it's just so we can keep track of who lives where and the schools we assign you to." He waved it off as unimportant and smiled.

She looked at the page in front of her, there were a lot of names filled in on the page and there were quite a few sheets already folded back. _Ok, I have to make a fake name_, she thought, _well might as well have a nice name_. She jotted down the name Mercy Gaila. _Jeez, how many names do I need?_ She grimaced. While she had the clipboard in front of her she flipped through the names. She caught herself on a gasp as she spotted the name James Latham, on the same page as hers. Flipping back she found the names, Neelofar Jamal, Mahrokh Ravaei, Charlie Vincent, Lee Goodwin, Aiden Springs, Vladimir Tamzaran, Nicole Halliday, Joe Hadley, Joe Robb, Byron Yates and a number of other people she knew. Why had they come back? It was just stupid. She had specifically told Chalice not to let them follow her. She'd broken the sisters promise, that wasn't right, Chalice should know better than that.

"Is there a problem, miss?" The man asked, peering at her strangely.

"Oh, no, I was just looking over the names. Is this for the whole of Bradford?" She replied, trying to distract him.

"Yes, it is." He beamed, "I have to go around the whole of Bradford myself, it's going to be exhausting." Then he seemed to snap back into business mode. "Can you also write down the name of any other members living in your house underneath your name please?"

Jezebel jotted down Casper Zikars underneath her own name. Then she stopped, realizing she didn't actually know how old he was, it hadn't come up in conversation.

"Um…I don't know how old he is." She admitted handing the clipboard back to the man. He glanced at the names.

"Oh, Mr Zikars? Don't worry, we have him on record anyway." He said without looking up, she saw him jot down a three digit number next to Casper's name, she was pretty sure the first number was a two. "So, Miss Gaila, you will start Thornton Grammar School tomorrow. If that is ok?"

"That's fine." She replied, wanting him to leave now, she could feel herself starting to sweat at the thought of being exposed now.

He took out three sheets of paper from underneath the stack of addresses and handed them to her.

"You'll need these, have a nice day now. Bye." Then he was gone.

Jezebel stood staring out into her empty garden, it took a lot to drag herself away form the door, close it and re-enter the living room. She felt exhausted and she sprawled out on the couch and turned the television on. The schedules were basically the same, although there were a few new programmes and the news anchorman was now a shapeshifter who's face seemed to change constantly. She decided she'd just watch cartoons (A habit she'd picked up from Casper – stupid Casper)

The first sheet was just information about the 'new world', the second sheet was about her school (which she already knew all about because she used to go there.) The third sheet made her heart freeze. The main heading on the sheet said 'Have you seen these girls?' There were three pictures lined up underneath. First was of Chalice, snarling at the camera, the second of Ophelia looking expressionless, the third was of herself that had been taken the day she'd been captured, she looked upset and angry.

Underneath the pictures was a contact line. Jezebel screwed it up and threw it aside angrily. Couldn't she just be left alone, she never asked for this! Why was life so unfair? She felt angry tears spill over her cheeks and she buried her head in the cushion of the couch. She heard the outside door open but didn't care.

"What's wrong, Jez?" Casper asked a few minutes later. He'd flitted silently into the room. He sat down next her and put his arm around her. She turned and buried her face in his chest. His other hand gently rubbed her back. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"It's not fair!" She sobbed. "I just want everything to be normal again."

"Shh, it's ok. It'll all be ok." Casper soothed and continued to stroke her back. "Whats brought this on?"

She just sobbed and shook her head against his chest. She felt safe in his arms and she felt the anger and upset draining away from her slowly. Eventually she removed her head form his chest. She noticed that she'd left some tear marks and smeared make up on his blue shirt.

"I'm sorry," She apologized and looked away form him in embarrassment.

"Sorry for what?"

"Your shirt."

He looked down and chuckled, "It'll wash." Then he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm ok now." She replied. Then she handed him to two remaining letters that she hadn't screwed up. His eyes scanned over them, then he sighed.

"So you're going back to school." He commented. She nodded.

"Well, we're going to have to sort that out." He said then began to explain everything that she'd need.

Jezebel walked through the school gates feeling very self-conscious. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a black top. Over that she was wearing a chainsaw teddy bear hoody that Casper had bought her. She was wearing her black wig and contacts and her doc martens. She had a gothic bag slung over her shoulder, which contained a gothic pencil case full of stationary, again which Casper had kindly bought her – even though she had expressed her dislike for him buying her things constantly. He'd just waved it off with a smile. She smiled at the thought of him. He really had lightened up this dark time.

Jezebel saw her friends stood by the tree that they had always stood at in a morning before the bell rung. Vlad and Aiden were stood with them. So were Nicole, CJ and Joe for that matter actually. They didn't used to come to this school; they didn't even live by this school. That was quite strange, but there was no way she could go over and talk to them. Casper had made it quite clear that she shouldn't let anyone know (not even her best friends) that she was still alive. As far as everyone at school was concerned she was Mercy Gaila, a new student. Jezebel hitched her bag up further and went and stood by the tree opposite her friends. She felt so isolated in such a familiar place, but it wasn't familiar. There were a lot of new students (most of them weren't human she noticed). Four girls walked around the corner form the canteen. They were all gorgeous – but human – The one, who was obviously the leader of the group, was wearing a sexy white crop top and a mini skirt so short it should've been illegal. She was wearing stockings and stilettos. It wasn't appropriate for school really but no one seemed to have anything to say about it, in face everyone seemed to cower away. She flicked her long silky blonde hair and her blue eyes seemed to glint beautifully. Behind her, her minions, were wearing similar things to her, but none of them looked as good as her. All three of them had blonde hair but their hair looked dyed and very fake and none of theirs shone the way hers did.

Jezebel watched, noticing – too late – that they were heading her way. The leader bimbo's eyes were set on her and seemed to have an evil, mocking glow in them.

"Hey, new girl." The leader bimbo said as she reached her, and extended a perfectly manicured hand out toward her. "I'm Courtney."

"J – Mercy." Jezebel caught herself, wow that one was close. She shook the blonde bimbo's – who she now knew as Courtney (typical bitch name) hand.

"These are my friends, Sara, Chelsea and Britney." She just waved towards her friends carelessly. Obviously they didn't mean much to her.

Jezebel gave them a half smile and they chorused a 'Hi' (wow, how corny, wonder how long it took her to train them to do that) Jezebel suppressed a grimace.

"Now let me lay down the rules, Mercy." Courtney continued with a wicked grin. "I run this school, you don't get in my way. You get in my way and I'll make your life hell. I'll make you wish you weren't born."

This girl was deadly serious, Jezebel gulped and nodded.

"Leave her alone, Court." A voice came from the side of them. A boy, who looked older than them, walked up. He was handsome with a short spiked black hair and dark eyes.

"Chris!" Courtney squealed and kissed him.

Chris smiled then turned to Jezebel, "Don't worry," he said, "Stay out of her way and you'll be fine. She's not that bad really."

Courtney slapped his arm. "How am I supposed to scare the new students with you here?" Chris put his arm around her waist and led her away. The three minions followed after them. Like sheep, Jezebel grimaced and leant back against the tree. She glanced up to see her friends look at her. Aiden was making his way over. Crap! Act natural! Act like you've never seen him before! She told herself.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked.

"Kinda." Jezebel replied. She felt herself blushing.

"Courtney is kind of a bitch. She didn't hurt you did she?"

"No, I'm ok."

"You want to come hang with us?" He asked, "It's safer in numbers."

"I – um – " Jezebel wasn't sure whether she should or not. It might be too much of a risk of being exposed.

"Come on." Aiden prompted, taking her wrist and leading her towards the others. "I'm Aiden, by the way."

I know.

"Mercy." Jezebel replied. Once they were with the group, Aiden went through introducing everybody. It felt stupid because she already knew them all, but she couldn't give it away. Aiden put his arm around Nicole's waist when the introducing was done. Mookie started talking so fast it seemed it must have been rehearsed. She explained the school rules and the 'Courtney rules'.

The bell rung and everyone started making their way inside.

Third period. Chemistry. H3, but strangely the teacher's initials on her timetable weren't Mr. Herries' initials. She entered the room, everyone who was sat down gave her a quick glance then – she was pretty sure – they started talking about her.

"Mercy. Over here." Vlad waved from the back. Jezebel made her way over. Suddenly a very large, muscly man was in front of her. He had wild dark eyes and straggly brown hair.

"Where you think you're going, miss?" he growled.

Jezebel stared up in total fear.

"I've been assigned to look after her and show her around, sir." She heard Vlad say but didn't dare look away form this man. The man grunted.

"Very well. Take your seat." The man moved away.

Jezebel raced to her seat. "Who was that?" She whispered to Vlad. She heard some chuckles around her, the supernatural students good hearing obviously picking up on that.

"I am your Chemistry teacher." The man bellowed from the front, making Jezebel jump. The class erupted in laugher at her reaction. Well everyone except Vlad did. The teacher picked up a book from his desk, "Heads up." He said then flung it at her; it was coming at such speed she didn't have much time to react. Luckily Vlad's hand shot up with inhuman speed and caught it before it hit her.

"Your such a kill joy, Tamzaran." The teacher said. Vlad just scowled and placed the book in front of her. The attention was diverted to the door as Joe wandered in late, wearing his usual goth things. "Late again, I see." The teacher said with a grin that could have peeled the wallpaper. "I'll speak to you after class."

Then he turned away and started to teach the lesson. Jezebel didn't follow anything he said. She was staring at Vlad, who looked distant and upset.

"Are you ok?" She asked despite herself.

"Do you mind?" the teacher bellowed, making her jump yet again. It made Vlad jump too this time. The teacher – who she now knew was called Mr Albaster and was also a big scary werewolf man- grinned horribly again and carried on.

Vlad scribbled down, _nothings wrong_ on a piece of paper and pushed it towards her. Although it was obviously scribbled quickly it was in elegant handwriting.

_There obviously is_. She wrote back and pushed it back towards him.

He sighed and wrote back, _I'm just missing someone it's none of anyone's concern_.

_Who are you missing? What happened?_ She wrote back, she feared deeply that something had happened to her sisters.

_If I told you I'd have to kill you_, Vlad wrote back. She was taken aback, Vlad wasn't the threatening type. Well not from what she'd seen of him.

_I won't tell anyone_, she wrote back sheepishly.

_Do you know who the Kandyll sisters are?_ He wrote after a few moments hesitation. Oh no. Something had happened to Chalice or Ophelia…or both!

_Yes_. Jezebel wrote back, her heart practically in her mouth with the thought of what he might write next. She stared as he moved the pen over the paper.

_Well, I know them…I'm in love with one of them, but she's gone. She left_. He handed her the paper back, he'd stumbled over the word love, the elegant handwriting changed on that word as if it was hard for him to write.

_Which one? Chalice or Ophelia?_ Jezebel wrote back. She was so worried, she couldn't stand the thought of anything happening to her sisters. Why would they have left? It didn't make sense. Maybe something bad had happened which had made one of them leave; or maybe they split up to protect the world.

Vlad frowned at the paper then at her. Then he wrote something down and handed her the paperback.

_Uh…It's neither of them. It's Jezebel. There are three sisters_. He had wrote. Jezebel's eyes widened incredulously at the paper then she stared at him. He loved her? He had said they were soulmates and in fact she remembered Aiden telling her.

After years of no male attention what-so-ever, why did all the good options come along at once? It was just unbearable. She had thought male attention would have been fun to have but it wasn't, it really wasn't.

The bell rang to signal the end of the lesson. Vlad was up and out of his seat quickly, embarrassed maybe? Or upset? It didn't matter now, he was gone. Jezebel stared after him.

The rest of the day passed on swiftly. She walked out of the school gates with Aiden, Nicole, Vlad, Neelofar and Mahrokh at her sides.

"So how are you getting home, Mercy?" Mookie asked. She hadn't really thought about that. She'd walked to school before Casper had woken up. She supposed she'd be walking home.

"Walking I think." Jezebel replied.

"Where do you live?" Vlad asked.

"Clayton."

"Oh we live up there, I could drop you off." He replied with a smile.

It was raining and Jezebel really didn't fancy wandering up that steep muddy hill in this weather. So she agreed to get a lift. Whilst talking in the car she found out that Neelofar, Mookie, Nicole, Chalice and Ophelia had all moved into a house together in Clayton and Vlad, Aiden, Joe and CJ had all moved into the house next door. It was security reasons. The 'safety in numbers' thing again.

"So where is it you live?" Vlad asked from the front. Damn, she hadn't thought this one through. She was living in the same house as she had before. She'd just tell them to drop her off at the end of her road. She directed him to her road.

"You can just drop me off here." She said as they reached her road.

"I'd rather drop you off right outside your house and have someone walk you in. It's not really that safe around here." Vlad said. Damn, damn, damn.

"Oh it's really not a problem I can walk." She said.

"It'd make me feel better if someone walked you in." Vlad said. Jezebel was just thinking of a way to get out of it. When her she spotted her saviour. Casper was walking down the street.

"Oh, there's my housemate!" Jezebel exclaimed.

"Oh." Vlad said, "Well I suppose that's ok." He unlocked the doors and she climbed out.

"Thank you for the lift home!" She thanked Vlad and waved to the others. Casper spotted her and waved. She ran to him and hugged him. Just to make it clear to Vlad and the others that she did know this man. She saw the car drive past them and turn down the road.

"Oh thank you so much, Cas!" She kissed his cheek.

"I take it I've don't something good?" he smiled.

"They were going to walk me home. They're my old friends, it might have given me away if you hadn't shown up." She explained.

"Oh well that's good." Casper said the walked her back to the house. "I was just going to take a walk while you were out. Now you're here there's no need."

Monday 30th November. She jotted down in her English book. Over a month had passed and she'd settled in at school. She'd gotten used to the supernatural kids and had learnt ways around their 'talents.' The incredibly sexy vampire English teacher wandered into the room. He looked around twenty and was absolutely gorgeous with an old-fashioned charm. He'd replaced Mrs Hardy and every girl (including supernatural ones) were absolutely gaga for him. Mookie was sat next to her.

"Hey, Mercy, what you think about the pants he'd wearing today?" She whispered.

"I heard that, Miss Ravaei." He sighed, without looking up for the book he was skimming through. Mookie blushed then laughed. Jezebel giggled too.

Courtney and her followers breezed into the room. "Ah, miss Oxford." Mr Wetherby looked up from his book. "I trust you have that assignment you owe me."

"Anything for you, sir." She said, batting her over-mascara-ed lashes. She handed him a few sheets of paper that had probably written by some poor nerd that she'd promised to date if he did it for her.

Mr Wetherby took the paper and placed it down on his desk. "Next time, try writing it yourself." He commented then went back to his book. Courtney's eyes widened in shock and then narrowed with anger, she stormed off and took her seat at the back. Her minions closely following.

Jezebel quickly completed her work and then let Mookie copy. She walked to the front and placed it down on Mr Wetherby's desk. He looked at it then up at her.

"Well done, Miss Gaila." He smiled at her, then he winked at her. "You and miss Ravaei may go to lunch early."

The canteen was full of people already when she got there. One good thing about school now was that there was good food in there now. Jezebel ordered herself a milkshake, not feeling that hungry. Mookie was behind her, ordering a big plate of food and joking with her along the way. She knew she should have paid attention to where she was walking but that was when it went down hill. Jezebel was walking forward holding her milkshake whilst looking behind her and talking to Mookie. She walked straight into someone, her milkshake went everywhere and both of them feel over at the force of the impact.

"I am so sor – " Jezebel froze as she locked gaze with the blue eyed beast. Courtney was on the floor in front of her, chocolate milkshake all over her shirt and face. She was glaring at Jezebel with pure hatred.

"You little bitch!" Courtney screeched, got to her feet and grabbed the hot chocolate she'd ordered and threw it in Jezebel's face. Jezebel screamed as the hot liquid burned her face. Mookie grabbed Jezebel and hauled her to her feet.

"Girls." Miss Kress – the lunch lady – said and got between them. "That's enough. Courtney!" She shouted at the girl as she started toward Jezebel again.

"This isn't over, bitch!" Courtney said with pure loathing in her voice, "I warned you! You better watch your back."

Jezebel stared after her as she was led away by her minions who were fussing over her.

"Come on." Mookie said, leaving her plate and taking Jezebel to the table. Aiden was on his feet and at Jezebel's side as soon as he saw her.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Courtney." Mookie grimaced. "Mercy just made number one on the hit list."

"Why? What happened?"

"She accidentally spilt chocolate milkshake on her."

"Oh."

Jezebel felt her make up running and her eyes burned. She'd have to take the contacts out but she couldn't do it here. "I have to go." Jezebel said, keeping her head down and ran out of the canteen, out of school grounds and up Thornton road. She ran straight into Casper along the way.

"Casper," She cried, throwing her arms around him. "What are you doing here?"

"I had the feeling that you were in trouble and I ran here." He said, pushing her back slightly to look at her. "What happened to you?"

"Courtney threw burning hot, hot chocolate in my face." She explained, "Come on we have to leave before anyone realises I'm gone."

"Ok." Casper said and scooped her up in his arms. Then he ran at vampire speed all the way home. It only took them a few minutes, usually it would have taken her twenty minutes to walk home.

Casper got her wig cleaned and cleaned her contact lenses while she soaked in the bath. She felt bad that he did all these things for her and she couldn't do anything back. She let the warm water relax her muscles and she tried to let the reality of what was happening drift away. The knock at the bathroom door brought her swiftly back though.

"Come in." She said without thinking. Luckily the bubbles covered her naked body. Casper walked into the bathroom and paused, realising she was still in the bath.

"Oh…I…. thought you'd…. got out." He stuttered. "I um…I've cleaned the wig, it should be fine for tomorrow…" His eyes kept drifting away form hers and over the bubbles that covered her. "I'll…go in the living room."

"No stay." She said, not wanting to be left alone with her thoughts. "I want somebody to talk to."

"Are you sure? … You're kind of …" His gaze drifted over the bubbles again. "Not dressed." He finished and forced his gaze back to hers.

"I'm sure." She said, she was a little self-conscious but right now she just needed someone to talk to while she relaxed. Casper seated himself on the floor by the bath, crossed his arms on the edge of it and rested his chin on his crossed arms.

"So what would you like to talk about?" he asked, straining to keep his eyes on her face. It made Jezebel feel self-conscious (if not slightly sexy) it was probably the perfume again. It seemed to have this effect on him a lot.

"Anything." She said, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. Her hair felt all sticky and straw-like. It needed a wash. "Can you turn around while I wash my hair?" she asked.

He hesitated then said, "I'll wash it for you if you like." His cheeks turned a light pink. She giggled. She'd never seen him blush before.

Then she hesitated, realizing that he was actually expecting an answer.

"Um…ok." She said timidly. She put an arm over her chest, covering her breasts and sat up. She turned so her back was to him. He knelt up, grabbed a glass from the sink cupboard and dipped it in the water and began to wet her hair. Once that was done he began to rub shampoo into her hair. He was so gentle the whole time, Jezebel relaxed completely.

She almost groaned when he finished washing her hair, but he then asked, "Would you like me to wash your back while my hands are wet?" She could hear the smile in his voice.

"Yes please."

He took the soap and began to lather up her back. The skin-to-skin contact between them always sent little shock waves through them both, this time it seemed heightened for her. Her skin was felt electrically charged she was pretty sure that if she held a light bulb it would light up – but doing that in a bathtub probably wasn't a good idea. His hands ran up her back and caressed her shoulders, then the back of her neck. She gave a little moan suddenly his hands froze on her back. She wondered what she'd done wrong, but slowly his hands started moving again. He finished it quickly and rinsed off her back then went back to sitting on the floor. She lay back down; a lot of the bubbles had disappeared. Deciding she better get out now she sat up, reaching for a towel that wasn't there. Casper stood up, holding a towel out in front of him, ready to wrap her in when she stepped out. He had his eyes shut. Then she realised that she'd sat up without covering her breasts and felt the colour flood to her cheeks. She covered her womanly parts and stood up, stepping out of the bath onto the towel on the floor. She pressed herself against the towel. Casper's arms went around her, wrapping the towel around her. He opened his eyes and looked down at her. His arms didn't move. His eyes seemed to burn with a silver fire…the same one she'd seen in Vlad's eyes when – Casper seemed to snap himself out of it right at that second. He blinked and shook his head and let go of her. Then walked away without another word.

She shook her head, went to her room, donned her black fluffy dressing gown and wandered back into the living room. Candles lighted the room; there were two glasses of wine on the table and a little box next to one of the glasses. She gulped and didn't move. Casper came in behind her. "That's your seat there," He said pointing to the glass on the table in front of the couch, the glass had the box next to it. Casper went and took his seat, smiling up at her; he'd recovered from before apparently.

Jezebel took her seat on the couch, putting her feet up.

"Open the box." He said.

She picked it up and slowly opened it. Inside was a necklace. There was a little black heart with Jezebel written in silver on it and the heart was hung on a silver chain.

"Oh. Wow." She gasped.

"It's a little gift from me, to thank you for letting me stay with you." He said.

"Wait, you're not leaving are you." She looked up, suddenly terrified.

"No, of course not." He smiled.

"Oh. Wow. It's beautiful Casper! I love it! Thank you!" She took it out of the box. Casper flitted behind her and took the chain gently out of her hands.

"I'll put it on for you." He fastened it quickly and then flitted in front of her. "It looks beautiful on you." Then he looked up at her, "But not more beautiful than you."

Jezebel felt herself blush again. She'd have to stop doing that around him. She leant forward and hugged him, breathing in his gorgeous spicy aroma. She sighed against him.

Chapter 9

The scream came from the down the hall. It was a totally petrified scream. Belinda grabbed Jezebel's hand. Belinda was an outcast vampire who didn't like to hang around with her own kind; she was also Jezebel's P.E buddy. "Did you hear that?" Belinda whimpered. Everyone in the room had heard it. The girls who were still changing quickly get their clothes on and they all wandered outside. Belinda and Jezebel led the way. It sounded like it had come from the sports hall. As soon as Jezebel pushed the doors open there were gasps among the crowd. It was the supernatural girls. Jezebel only knew that because Belinda said, "I can smell blood."

Jezebel turned to the girls behind her and said, "I think the vampire and other creature girls should stay here." There were some nods and the supernatural girl went and sat on the bench outside the hall. The rest of them followed Jezebel in; Belinda also followed her as Belinda wasn't really crazy about blood and didn't lose total control when she was close to it. They stopped once inside and looked around the vast expanse of the sports hall. There was no sign of anyone.

"Where's the smell coming from?" She asked Belinda. Belinda sniffed the air. Then pointed towards the storage cupboard where all the sports equipment was kept. Jezebel made her way slowly over to it, the other girls hot on her heels.

Once outside it the panic levels started to rise as they spotted a pool of blood seeping under the door. Jezebel opened the door and screamed. Two cool, lifeless blue eyes were staring straight at her. The other girls crowded around to see and everyone started screaming hysterically. There, strewn across the basketball bags, was the body of Courtney's evil minion Britney. There was a huge gash right across her chest and stomach and multiple cuts on her face and neck. Her baby pink T-shirt had a big bloodstain running all down it and her blonde hair was matted with blood also.

"Whats happening in here?" Miss Jones, a P.E teacher pushed through the crowd, knocking Jezebel aside. "Somebody, call an ambulance, go get the nurse!" She started giving orders and rushed toward the body. More teachers arrive and every student was gathered in the assembly hall. There weren't many students in the school anymore, a lot of residents had been killed in the initial take over and there weren't a lot of supernatural children. Jezebel stood with her friends.

"My god, what did you see?" Vlad had his arm around Jezebel; she was still shaking and sobbing. The image of the cold lifeless eyes wouldn't go away.

"She was dead and cut open." Was all she could manage before another surge of tears overflowed again. Her friends were gathered around her speaking comfortingly and rubbing her back.

The headmaster walked out on stage, looking grim. "Students, if I could please have your attention." Everyone turned his way, the room was silent. "I'm afraid Britney Peters is dead." There were gasps and cries and sobs and sniffles. "She died in a freak accident. She fell and landed on the javelins whilst retrieving something from the supply cupboard."

The head teacher bowed his head. "But life must go on. No one is to go up to the sports area until given permission."

"You mean school is still open?" Many voices protested.

"Yes. School is still open." The headmaster then walked away. Teachers at the door directed the students out.

The next day at school the gossip was all around. Some students refused to believe it was a freak accident; Jezebel was among them. She'd seen Britney's body; it hadn't looked like an accident.

Jezebel thought about that as she walked out of the old building, down the hill and towards the canteen on the other side of the school. It was cold outside so she zipped her jacket up.

"Hey, you little freak faced bitch!" she heard the voice from behind her. She turned to see Courtney stalking toward her. Sara and Chelsea mimicking her perfectly. They looked like a bunch of hunting lionesses that had been seriously pissed off. Courtney reached her and slapped her hard across the face.

"Is this your sick way of getting back at me?" Courtney shouted in her face. Courtney slapped her again. "Killing my best friend!"

"I didn't touch your friend!" Jezebel shouted back.

"OH sure! That's how you knew exactly where she was! You killed her and made it look like an accident! I know your game, _murderer_!"

"I didn't touch your skanky little friend!" Jezebel whirled and continued to walk towards the canteen.

"Don't you _dare_ walk away from me!" Courtney grabbed Jezebel's arm, swung her round and punched her in the face. Jezebel staggered backward, holding her hand to her face. That had really hurt.

"What the fuck? You psycho bitch!" Jezebel shouted, Courtney's ring had drawn blood.

There was a crowd gathering. "Fight!" someone shouted. _Oh not this again_, Jezebel thought. There was soon a big crowd around them. Jezebel saw Mookie and her other friends trying to push their way through the crowd, but Courtney's minions were holding them back. Jezebel started to walk towards them but as soon as she did there was a sharp pain in her back and she went down. Courtney had kicked her in the back with her sharp stiletto heel. Jezebel scrambled to her feet and threw a heavy punch straight into Courtney's gut. Courtney exhaled sharply.

"Fight, fight, fight, fight!" The crowd chanted.

Courtney grabbed Jezebel's throat and squeezed hard.

"Mercy!" Vlad shouted trying to push past Courtney's supernatural minions, (mostly boys obviously) they had a good hold of Vlad and Aiden. Ironic name, Jezebel thought as she fought to get her breath. She kicked Courtney's stomach, Courtney let go of her throat and grabbed her stomach. Courtney, being a girl, came back, grabbing at Jezebel's hair for the painful hair-pull. No! Jezebel thought but it was too late. Courtney grabbed the black wig and tore it off of her head. The crowd gasped then went silent. Courtney stared at the wig in her hand then looked at Jezebel.

"That's Jezebel!" A girl shouted in the crowd.

"Oh my god, she's here!" Someone else shouted.

"Should we turn her in?" Someone else asked.

Jezebel stood, determined not to cry. The sound of a car racing through the car park diverted attention for a few minutes. Everyone turned then dived out of the way as the car sped forward, it stopped inches away from Jezebel's frozen form. Casper got out of the car, he walked over to Courtney and snatched the wig out of her hands then he turned to Jezebel and took her hand. "Jez?" he looked into her eyes. "Jez, we have to go."

Jezebel looked at him, tears in her eyes.

"Jezebel." Vlad shouted with anguish. Her gaze locked with his. There were actual tears in his eyes. Casper looked at him too. The he led Jezebel off, instead of going to the car, he led her into the school's reception. The receptionist's eyes widened at the sight of her.

"I request to speak to the headmaster please." Casper said.

"Oh – yes – one minute." The receptionist bustled about with papers, put one on the counter for him to sign then made a call to the headmaster. Casper signed the form.

"Go right on up." She said, keeping her gaze firmly on Casper, not daring to look at Jezebel.

When they were in the headmaster's office. Casper and the headmaster discussed what was going to happen now. The headmaster was a very caring man and thought it right that Jezebel should have an education. One scary phone call to Theodoric – during which Jezebel sat utterly still and silent, listening to the headmaster try to reason with Theodoric – and it was set. Since there was no sign of the other two girls, there was no reason why Jezebel shouldn't have the same rights as the other teenagers so for now she was free.

Jezebel wandered back outside alone. Casper and the headmaster had other private matters to discuss. There was no sign of Courtney outside, but her friends were stood by Casper's car, looking in through the windows for some reason. Jezebel had washed up in the headmaster's private bathroom and left her wig and contacts with Casper. Mookie was the first to notice her.

"Jezebel!" She squealed, running and hugging her. Then Mookie slapped her, "Don't you ever do that to us again!" Then Mookie went back to the hug, "We thought you were gone!"

As soon as Mookie let go, she was in Vlad's arms, his lips descended on hers in a sweet but demanding kiss. Mookie giggled beside them.

"You got Mr. Sexy pants." She commented. Jezebel reached out and smacked Mookie's arm. Mookie laughed.

Casper wandered past, Jezebel saw him out of the corner of her eyes. There was no need to ask Vlad to let go of her. As soon as he saw Casper he was going after him.

"You." He shouted after Casper. Casper turned and looked at Vlad. Vlad caught up with him and they talked quietly. No one could hear what they were saying.

Vlad said, "You're her soulmate!" He said it angrily but quiet enough so the others couldn't hear.

Casper nodded then shrugged, "So?"

"You're meant to be together? Why aren't you?" Vlad was getting frustrated now. Surely this guy knew the meaning of soulmates.

"I don't want to put that kind of pressure on her." Casper explained.

"You can't be happy without her now and she can't be happy without you." Vlad hissed, "That's how it works once you've met. Your connected on the most intimate level possible."

"It doesn't matter. I'm here if she wants me. If not I'll always be here as her best friend." Casper shrugged again. "Besides, I think you stated your claim back there."

Casper turned away. Vlad suddenly felt guilty about letting Casper witness that. "I thought she was my soulmate." Vlad admitted.

Casper turned back. "I know. She told me that. You were connected on such a level."

Vlad sighed. The Casper said something that quite surprised him.

"You know who your real soulmate is, you just don't want to admit it."

There was no use arguing that. He did know who his soulmate was, he was just in denial.

"Ophelia probably knows it too." Casper said, then he got in his car.

Vlad watched him turn around and drive away.

"Are you okay, Vlad?" Jezebel asked when he came back looking depressed. He nodded then walked away to the canteen.

Friday 4th December. "So what are you doing for your birthday tomorrow?" Neelofar asked as they finished their Maths work.

"Nothing." Jezebel replied. "I'm not in the mood for a party."

The last bell for school rang. "Yes! The end of the day finally!" Neelofar stretched out then put her books away and stood up. "I'll see you Monday." Neelofar said, then practically raced out of the room. Jezebel packed up and went to her after school art workshop. It was dark outside by the time it finished. Jezebel was the last in the classroom, she washed up her paint brushed and put them away. Grabbed her bag and left the room. She walked down the quiet corridor, the silence seemed unusual. She stumbled over something and fell over. She looked back. She'd fallen over something weird. She crawled closer to get a better look. It was an arm. She dared herself to peek around the door to see it if was just a model that had fallen over – she was in the art department after all. She saw brown hair. She stood up slowly and switched the light on. James Latham. He was lying on the floor, his eyes staring blankly at a wall. There was a gash across his chest and stomach too. Jezebel couldn't even gather the energy to scream. She covered her mouth with a hand and clutched the shelf next to her for support. She was shaking and tears flooded down her cheeks. He'd been one of her closest friends.

She heard talking down the hall. She leant out, taking her eyes off her best friends body for a few second to see a teacher.

"Miss!" She cried desperately, then began crying again. The teacher saw her and ran down the hall toward her, the teacher gasped in horror as she saw James.

"Call an ambulance, girl!" The teacher said. Jezebel took out her phone and called for an ambulance.

It wasn't long before the ambulance arrived. James was pronounced dead by the paramedics. His body was cold and the blood was dried so he'd been there a while. There was nothing they could do for him. Jezebel sat and cried, she called and told her friends.

The headmaster called it another freak accident the next day. It wasn't a freak accident. Someone killed these people. They had died the same way. A few weeks passed by and no more killings – 'freak accidents' – were reported.

Jezebel walked along the hallways towards her next lesson. She heard a scream behind her. _Oh no_, she thought, _no, no, just walk on_. Then more screams rang out down the corridor. She couldn't help herself now, she turned and sprinted towards the screams. There was a crowd gathered outside B15. Jezebel looked over everybody's shoulders and also screamed at what she saw.

Three students were strung up, by their wrists, from the roof. They were all dripping with blood. Charlie was one of them, Jezebel choked on a sob. CJ was the second one and the third was Chelsea. Then Jezebel noticed that Sara was on the desk below them. On the white board behind them, written in their blood was:

Ha Ha You can't catch me

I'm among you now

But where?

Can you guess?

Of course not

That's the fun of the game

The students were cleared away by teachers, Courtney was dragged away, crying and fighting to get back to her dead friends. "This is your fault, Freak!" Courtney shouted at Jezebel as she was dragged away by staff. Chris was walking beside them, head down.

The headmaster gathered them all in the hall once again and declared an emergency and that students must leave now. He apologized for his earlier blindness to the problem before.

Jezebel stood with her remaining friends, which consisted of Vlad, Aiden, Nicole, Joe, Neelofar, Mookie and Belinda. Though the rest of them were openly wary about Belinda, Jezebel held her hand while she shook with pure terror. She'd seen six dead bodies, three of them were her friends, one of them her ex-boyfriend (who she had, admittedly, still had feelings for) She was so terrified. Vlad had his hands on her shoulders to try calm her down and stop her shaking, Nicole had her arm wrapped around Jezebel's that wasn't occupied by Belinda. Aiden stood behind Nicole with his arms wrapped around her protectively. Joe stood beside Belinda, their fingers entwined. Neelofar and Mookie, held hands in front of them.

The head master led the way out of the hall; the crowd of students followed him. The whole crowd stopped. Jezebel almost walked into the ginger haired boy in front of her it halted that fast.

On the wall directly outside the hall, in big black letters was:

ANYBODY WHO LEAVES

DIES

KILLTHE WITCH DAUGHTER

AND YOU ALL GO FREE

A lot of eyes turned on Jezebel, Vlad and Aiden instinctively pushed her behind them protectively.

"Anyone who even dares try to touch her, I'll rip their throat out, got that?" Vlad snarled as some students started to advance on them. They stopped dead. Vlad went into total vampire mode then. His eyes glowed a luminous light green and his fangs slid down, his snarl exposing them. The supernatural students took that as a challenge, they stepped forward while the mortal students moved backwards.

"Enough!" Mr Albaster shouted from the doorway. His eyes were wild and furious. "No one is going to kill anyone, is that clear?"

No one moved.

"Is that clear?!" He bellowed. Everyone either nodded or said 'yes, sir.'

"Now, since we'll be here a while, we have to set up camp in the hall somehow. Everyone is in a group at all times." Mr Alabaster shouted out orders. He split the groups (luckily into friendship groups) and assigned groups tasks to do. They were in for a long stay…well hopefully a long one…


End file.
